3.14.2008

Happy Pi Day


First of all - Happy Pi Day!
If you are a math nerd, this is a fun day!
March 14 or 3.14...and I did not just admit to being a nerd?!?

What is Pi?
It is the ratio of the circle's circumference to its diameter.

So here, my lovely Le Creuset Enameled Cast-Iron Tarte Tatin pan (hey, Maryann, here it is again) has a diameter of  9 1/2 inches. What is the circumference you ask?

That is where my handy little mysterious irrational number comes in! The circumference is the diameter (as measured by my whimsical tape measure, ha!) multiplied by pi.
I have memorized the value of pi to 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884.

Memorizing pi has a fascination of its own for some (but not many).
I remember it like this:
3.14 March 14 we all know that
159 At 1:59 in the afternoon is when to eat our pie, like dessert after lunch
265 Prefix from my old business phone number
358-9793 Somebody's phone number, just think of how many phone numbers you have memorized and this is easy
238-4626 Aw, c'mon, I can remember another phone number, can't I?
4 I was born April 4th, 4 is my number!
338 Prefix for phone number growing up.
3 Remember another 3 after 338.
27 Just remembering being 27 years old.
95028 A zip code?
8 One more 8...Ok, stopping here.
4 Oh, might was well add one more 4.
Please don't quiz me after a glass of wine :)

Eventually you can find your own phone number in pi, that's cool. Eventually...

If you desire to memorize pi, you have to make up your own method, because none of the pi number sequences ever repeat!

Back to the circumference of my Le Creuset:
pi d = C
3.141592653589793238462643383279502884 X 9.5= 29.845130209+
In other words about 30" around.

Did you (or your kids) celebrate pi today? 
By the way, I'm listening to Don McLean right now: American Pie 
bye, bye...