Friday, March 14, 2014

It's Pi Day - A Celebration of Math ( and Baking )

3/14 - Pi Day - Celebrate the mathematical constant that gives reason to geek bakers everywhere to bake puny things!


Link through to original graphic and interesting Pi Day activities at Forbes.com
So, Pi Day isn't just about baking, it's about celebrating math in our culture, which we spend far too little time doing!

What is Pi?   It is a mathematical constant, a ratio of a circle's circumference to it's diameter, approximately equal to 3.14159.

Why do I care about Pi?  Regardless of how many times you slammed a trig book shut in frustration screaming "HOW IS THIS RELEVANT TO ME!!" and eventually finding no satisfying answers, this mathematical constant is key to our understanding and advancements in cosmology, statistics, thermodynamics and mechanics.

Why do I care about Pi Day?  1. Pie is tasty. 2. Math is awesome. 3. We do a terrible job in American culture of getting excited about math and science. 4. Never ever miss an opportunity to let your geek flag fly!

What can I do to celebrate Pi Day?

  • Go educate yourself on Pi. Use the internet, it's atwitter today with fun info. 
  • Go to your local grocer at lunch and get a pie to share with your co-workers (or, bake one for your friends and family) 
  • Learn about fractals, especially the Mandelbrot Set. You can download the Electric Sheep screensaver for interactive fractal goodness. 
  • Do some math. I know for most people math is that thing you left back in school in the discarded heap of "why did I have to learn this", but math is important and useful. Find something about math that is interesting and share it with your friends. 
  • If you do nothing else, indulge in a little geek entertainment. Watch Neil deGrasse Tyson's latest episode of "Cosmos" (really, if you haven't already watched the first episode, go now and do it). Or, listen to a little Jonathan Coulton

Might I suggest... Jonathan Coulton's "Mandelbrot Set" (This is a SFW version, the "Fucking fractal" part has been bleeped out.)



Pi Day snuck up on me this year, so I didn't have time to bake a pie for work. I'm going to run out now and get mini-pies for the office. This weekend, I will be baking a Pi Day pie and doing math with my son. Promises to NL readers, I will post my apple pie recipe. It's delicious and chocked full of math!!

1 comment:

  1. Today, I am wearing my pi shirt and we will be going out for pizza pie. With gluten! My 3yo assures me that is the exciting part.

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