TGIF for Pi Day

March 14 was the unofficial celebration for Pi Day derived from the common three-digit approximation for the number represented by the greek letter pi = 3.14 (which also happens to be Albert Einstein's birthday).

Math enthusiast around the world stopped to consider the role that the number pi has played in their lives at 1:59 PM (in recognition of the six-digit approximation: 3.14159) by eating pineapple and pies, breaking piñatas, drinking piña Coladas, and watching Pi, the movie.

Ever since computers have calculated ? to billions of decimal places, memorizing pi has become a popular hobby for many people. The current world record is 83431 decimal places, and was set by a Japanese mental health counsellor named Akira Haraguchi in 2005. There are many ways to memorize ?, including the use of "piems," which are poems that represent ? in a way such that the length of each word (in letters) represents a digit. The Cadaeic Cadenza contains the first 3834 digits of ? in this matter.

But don't worry if your "piphilology" is less than three digits. You can still celebrate "Pi Approximation Day" on July 22, or 22/7 in international date format.

Thank Goodness It's Friday (and pi is still tanscendental),

--Bill Heinze