Happy Pi Day!!!

Pi Day is traditionally held on 14th March to celebrate the irrational number π – 3.14159265.  π is the ratio between the circumference : diameter of a circle and cannot be expressed as an exact fraction.  It is also a transcendental number.  I have often thought long and hard about these kinds of numbers and they fascinate me.  It is truly amazing that no matter how accurately you try to express a number like π, it can always be expressed to an even greater accuracy again.  It makes you wonder… what is the smallest fraction possible in nature? Surely there must be one? Yet π can be calculated to an indefinite decimal representation, it would seem.  This means that in nature there can never be a “perfect” circle.

A friend of mine, Emma Constantine, helped me celebrate Pi Day by baking this gorgeous Raspberry Pi Pie.  And very tasty it was too!

It will now be my turn to reciprocate on 22nd July, which is the day us number geeks get to celebrate Pi Approximation Day.  22/7 is a commonly used approximation for π in mathematics.

Is Pi Approximation Day in your geek calendar?!