| Pi Day, 300th Anniversary
By Tom Barnett
Simultaneously published here and in Rough
Draft, February 2006, the
newsletter of STC's Phoenix Chapter
“Probably no symbol in mathematics
has evoked as much mystery, romanticism, misconception, and
human interest as the number pi (π).”
—William L. Schaaf, Nature and History of Pi
The Greek letter
π
was first used for the value 3.1415 in the publication,
“Synopsis Palmariorium Mathesios,” written by William Jones in
1706. So, 2006 will be the 300th anniversary of the use of
π
as a mathematical symbol.
March 14 is an incredible celebration day this year. In the
U.S., this date is written 3-14, or 3/14, which uses the first
three digits of pi, 3.14. In the international style, this would
be written as 14/3, so this is clearly an informal American
celebration. A lot of technical writers work with engineers who
use a lot of mathematics, and they may be familiar with Pi Day.
The “ultimate” pi day in history occurred on March 14, 1592, at
6:53:59 AM (3/14/1592 6:53:59), which uses the first twelve
digits of pi, 3.14159265359 (with the last digit rounded).
The Math
For those interested in the mathematical side of pi, here are some
facts.
- Pi is a constant equal to
about 3.14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971
69399 37510 58209 74944 59230 78164 06286 20899 86280 34825
34211 70679 82148 08651 . . .
- Pi is equal to C/2r,
where C is the circumference of a circle and r
is the radius.
- The area of a circle is
equal to 2πr,
where r is the radius of the circle.
- The number of digits of pi
needed to calculate the circumference of the universe to
within one angstrom* is 35.
Birthdays
Coincidently, March 14 is also
the birthday of a famous quantum physicist, Albert Einstein who
was born in 1879 in Germany. Some familiar Einstein Quotes
include:
Everything should be made
as simple as possible, but not simpler.
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
The ideas that have lighted my way have been kindness, beauty,
and truth.
I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.
March 14 is also the birthday of a mathematician you might have
heard of: Waclaw Sierpinski (1882). He is famous for the
Sierpinski Triangle. See
Wikipedia for a description.
And, March 14 has a full moon to celebrate everything happening
that day!
* An angstrom is a unit of
measure equal to 1 hundred-millionth of a centimeter.
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