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Written by Randy A. Salas, MCT
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Wednesday, 14 March 2007 |
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Happy Pi Day! Math nuts are paying tribute today to the famous number whose first three digits are 3.14 — thus the celebration on March 14 around the world and online.
www.mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.pi.html
Dr. Math does a good job of explaining pi — expressed using the greek letter — in every day terms. Pi is defined as the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter (pi = C/d), which yields the same number no matter the size of the circle. Although pi is usually rounded to 3.14, it is an "infinite decimal" or "irrational number" whose unending digits never repeat in a pattern. I guess you could say it's an odd number — figuratively, if not mathematically.
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www.piday.org
I know, I know — it's Pi Day, and you probably forgot to get something for family and friends. How awkward. Obviously, it's too late to order a pi mug, necktie or T-shirt, all of which are sold by "the self-proclaimed official website for Pi Day." Lucky for you, the site also has free e-cards that you can send instantly. They're not especially clever. We are, after all, talking about math.
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www.teachpi.org
Teachu03C0 is filled with ideas for teachers to do today with students, including activities for a "school-wide Pi Day assembly." While that might be a tad unlikely, students could toss cream pies at teachers and administrators to raise money (ideally, they would be in on it) or sing "O, Number Pi" to the tune of "O, Christmas Tree." Again, we're talking math here.
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www.angelfire.com/wa/hurben/buff.html
There are some truly fascinating things associated with pi, such as Buffon's Needle, for which Michael Hurben has created a nifty online demo. It goes like this: Take a table and draw parallel lines on it spaced 1 inch apart. Drop a 1-inch needle on the table, and it either lands in the space between the lines or crosses a line. Multiply the total number of drops by 2 and divide that by the number of times the needle crosses the line. The result of that equation gets closer to pi with every drop. Hurben's Java applet, which he created in 1998, allows users to demonstrate this concept virtually. By the time the variable-speed counter reaches about 5,000 needles, the equation meter hovers consistently around a result of 3.14.
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www.keithschofield.com/pi
Who says pi's not hip? The Hard 'N Phirm music video "Pi," directed by Keith Schofield, seems like a riff on the kids show "Zoom" at first. Then two creepy singers in pointed hats start chanting lyrics, while a robot recites pi to dozens of places before a rap singer takes over. It's completely bizarre — and, well, kinda cool. (Note that there is some profanity.)
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www.albion.edu/mathcs/random/brain/misc/Pi.pdf
David Reimann, aka the pi-man at Michigan's Albion College, has put together a mini-poster in which the numbers of pi form a circle by seemingly spinning into infinity. If you magnify the PDF image to 6,400 percent in Adobe Reader, you can see that the numbers on his visualization do end, unlike pi.
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www.angio.net/pi/piquery
Since pi goes on infinitely without repeating numbers, it's possible that just about any numerical string, such as a birth date, would eventually appear in it. That's where the Pi-Search Page comes in. Using it, I can see that my birth date, Dec. 22 (1222), occurs at 17,881 places after the decimal. The search engine goes to 200 million places, increasing the likelihood that you can find even the eight-digit number for your birth date, including the year. If you want to see what the first 4 million digits of pi look like, check out www.zenwerx.com/pi.php. If that's too much, Project Gutenberg has just the first million at www.gutenberg.net/etext/50.
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www.mathematicianspictures.com/PI/PI_STORE.htm
The countdown to 1:59 p.m. Eastern time has begun. That's the high point of Pi Day, based on the next three digits of pi (3.14159). It's also when Mathematicians Pictures drops its Giant Pi in cyberspace. Following the late-breaking action with its countdown clock (www.startribune.com/a2436) is as easy as pi.
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Randy A. Salas is a columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Do you have a favorite Web site or a question about how to find something on the Internet? E-mail Web
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