Happy Pi Day

Jonathan writes "Today, the 14th of March, is Pi Day 2008. Pi Day is internationally celebrated in honor of the mathematical constant "Pi," who's actual value will — now and forever — remain unknown. NeoSmart Technologies has a run-down on the history of Pi, Pi Day, and the significance of Pi and other such "magical numbers" to science and technology. 'Pi isn't just a number that you can use to calculate circle-related mathematics, it's a symbol of something by far greater. Pi is one of many "magic" numbers that are found everywhere — if you know where to look. These magic numbers can't be explained, they just are. And if you use them right, they make it a lot easier to do a lot of really complicated things... In a way, they're a testimony to technology and computers (or vice-versa, depending on how you look at it).'"

Happy Pi day...

[bugnuts (94678)]

... No cake for you!

Re:

[Brian Gordon (987471)]

The cake is a lie.

Re:Happy Pi day...

[electricbern (1222632)]

Actually, the cake is a Pi.

Opportunity Missed..

[fictionpuss (1136565)]

To post this story at 1:59pm, or 12 hours earlier depending upon which clock you prefer.

Wrong day

[Ed Avis (5917)]

Surely 22/7 would be pi day.

Re:Wrong day

[eln (21727)]

Sorry, 22/7 is only approximately pi day.

Re:Wrong day

[Hillgiant (916436)]

Everyday is approximately pi day. Just some approximations are better than others.

Re:

[Neko-kun (750955)]

That's why my files get dated YYYY/MM/DD so as to avoid any unnecessary confusion. Makes it easier to sort too:D

Re:

[Ed Avis (5917)]

YYYY-MM-DD would be better; the different delimiter character avoids confusion with other date formats. This is the standard date and time notation [cam.ac.uk].

'course, if you're making subdirectories on a Unix filesystem, using / is handy.

Re:

[fbjon (692006)]

Indeed, descending order of significance is the only order that makes sense. All other systems are local perversions.

Talk Like A Physicist Day

[klossner (733867)]

In addition to being Pi Day, today is Einstein's Birthday and Talk Like A Physicist Day [talklikeaphysicist.com]:

Never say "I didn't sleep enough" - the correct way to say it is "It was observed that my sleep duration was less than average." Or (In Plank units), "I have a sleep deficiency of about ten to the power 47, which is about half an hour."

Re:Talk Like A Physicist Day

[Dun Malg (230075)]

(In Plank units)

Aren't plank units Board-Feet?

Re:Talk Like A Physicist Day

[Joe Snipe (224958)]

I believe you mean bohred-feet.

Re:

[dreamchaser (49529)]

The evidence at hand would seem to indicate that your verbage is non standard for a physicist. It fits the template of a pirate with insomnia, though. Without further data I am only speculating of course.

Pi-th Post!

[eldavojohn (898314)]

Bask in its glory [1415926535...944592.com]!

Unknown value?

[ElizabethGreene (1185405)]

I would not say that it has an unknown value, the value is known as the ratio of a circle's diameter and circumference. Just because our system of representing numbers is flawed in that it cannot accurately define numeric sequences that approach infinity doesn't mean it is unknown... That is like saying 1/3 is unknown just because you can't print enough 3's after the decimal place to be accurate.

Silly boys.

-ellie

Re:Unknown value?

[fred fleenblat (463628)]

The value of pi can be precisely expressed as 1.0 (in base pi).

Re:Unknown value?

[excelblue (739986)]

Don't you mean 10 (base pi)?

1.0 (base pi) is still 1 (base anything).

Re:Unknown value?

[nine-times (778537)]

I'm sorry because I know I'm being pedantic, but I've dealt a fair amount with number theory and I felt like I should comment. You can't, strictly speaking, have "base pi" in the way that our number system is "base 10". If you don't quite know why that is the case, ask yourself if you wanted to count to "10" in "base pi" (which would be pi), what would that counting look like?

If you think it would be "1, 2, 3, 10" then you're talking about base 4. Otherwise, the distance on a number line between 0->1, 1->2, and 2->3 would all be equal to one unit, but 3->10 (the next number) would be 0.14159265... units.

The issue of pi being an irrational number, rather, is related to the definition of numbers as geometric ratios (which is how most of our mathematics consider numbers). The problem is that the diameter of a circle and the circumference are incommensurable, meaning that you can never come up with a whole-number ratio between those two lengths. Therefore, you cannot, no matter what length you choose as your unit, measure both the diameter and circumference with the same unit.

As a result, we generally take the diameter to be 1 unit of length, and the length of the circumference to be represented by the irrational number pi units of length. So the "number" of pi is an approximation of the ratio of diameter:circumference. We could just as easily assign the circumference to be the unit, however, and then the measurement usually represented by pi would be represented by "1" (which is what I think the GP post was alluding to). However, this would result in us having to deal with a different irrational number, which would be for representing the diameter, which would be 1/pi.

Re:

[dpilot (134227)]

Don't you just need an irrational number of fingers, or do the fingers themselves have to be irrational, as well?

Many people are known to be irrational, so this shouldn't be impossible.

Re:Unknown value?

[Orange Crush (934731)]

Pi = 3.141592653589793helpimtrappedinauniversefactory7108914 [xkcd.com]

Re:

[phliar (87116)]

"infinite amount of information"? Only if you're the sort of person who calls any bigger-than-linear increase "exponential". Words have meanings, and scientific/mathematical words have very precise meanings.

Here's a complete representation of the value of \pi:

4\sigma_{k=1}^\infinity\frac{(-1)^{k+1}}{2k-1}

That's only 368 bits of information, and I'm sure there are more compact encodings of the value.

Re:

[earlymon (1116185)]

I think this representation will help - http://www.cryptonomicon.com/images/p15.gif [cryptonomicon.com]

BTW, forget the years of college math - I learned late in life that just about anything you'd need is in Cryptonomicon - http://www.cryptonomicon.com/text.html [cryptonomicon.com]

Watch out for June 2 on this evenly-numbered year - that'll be Dick Tracy day!

What do you mean by unknown?

[A beautiful mind (821714)]

who's actual value will -- now and forever -- remain unknown

Pi's value is known totally precisely, it is just that an irrational number cannot be represented using the good ol' rational numbers or any x/y form of them, it only can be approximated. That is why it is called an irrational number! It doesn't make pi any less definite though.

Re:What do you mean by unknown?

[Xcott Craver (615642)]

Pi's value is known totally precisely

Indeed, pi is exactly (ln -1)/(sqrt -1).

Obligatory Portal reference

[imbaczek (690596)]

The Pi is a lie.

grammar day?

[Speare (84249)]

Pi Day is internationally celebrated in honor of the mathematical constant "Pi," who's actual value will -- now and forever -- remain unknown.

When can we have grammar day? First, it is "whose," as possessive pronouns never use apostrophes. Second, it is not even "whose" because Pi isn't a person.

Re:grammar day?

[rucs_hack (784150)]

For using the term 'possessive pronouns' in a slashdot post, you win one internet. Please spend it wisely.

Re:grammar day?

[gardyloo (512791)]

If you are going to point out an error, at least take the time to provide an example of the correct grammar.

Grammar has always been a weak-point (no hyphen needed) of mine, so it would have been nice if you had finished your thought (assuming your actual goal was NOT just to point out (split infinitive, but that's forgiveable these days)someone else's mistake so you could look clever without actually being helpful).

Don't make me go all George Costanza and have to tell you who (whom: a tricky case this time) the jerk store just ran out of... (Even sentences which end in ellipsis dots need periods!) :)

Pi Day? Sing it!

[WebGangsta (717475)]

Lots of songs have been written about Pi Day (Google "Pi Day Songs" to find 'em).

One of the more creative is this rap song (with video) [teachpi.org] to the tune of Eminem's LOSE YOURSELF.

Best enjoyed with a slice of pie. Right, Agent Cooper?

alternative representation in modular arithmetic

[peter303 (12292)]

This schema fails if you continue to minutes and seconds:
March 14, 15:92:65

The proper representation is modular-place arithmetic. Instead of assuming each number chunk is either decimal or hundreds, you use the actual size of the place. The Calendar places are:
12 months
31 days
24 hours
60 minutes
60 seconds

So 3.14159265 is
3 months, remainder .14159265 months
4 days, remainder .3893706 days
9 hours, remainder .3448944 hours
20 minutes, remainder .693664 minutes
42 seconds, remainder .61984 seconds

In other words March 4 9:20:43

My company is celebrating Pi day

[irenaeous (898337)]

at least in the engineering department. We are having pie as a group at 1:59 this afternoon.

BTW, today is also Albert Einstein's birthday.

International?

[genka (148122)]

3/14 sound more like American Pi day. In most other places it is 31/4.
Oh, wait they don't get to celebrate at all!

Pi approximation day

[popmaker (570147)]

I'm saving the pie for "pi approximation day" which is the 22. of july (22/7 = 3.1428571428).

Like this guy:
http://www.qwantz.com/archive/000955.html [qwantz.com]

42

[Nathrael (1251426)]

Hm, just by the way, already noticed that Pi multiplied with 13,37 is approximately 42? Mathematics definitely play an important role for solving the answer to life, the universe, and everything...

Good book about Pi

[-noefordeg- (697342)]

Not sure if anyone has mention this book (link : http://www.amazon.co.uk/History-Pi-Petr-Beckmann/dp/0312381859/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205526089&sr=8-1 [amazon.co.uk] )
I found it entertaining and easy to read while at the same being informative/interesting. I feel the book gives a very good presentation of the thought process behind how different civilizations reached their approximation of Pi and a good insight into how brilliant people of different times where able to calculate Pi. I bet a lot of "ordinary" people wouldn't have a clue about how to find a good number for Pi, without hitting their "Pi"-button on a calculator :)

A good read. Very nice addition to say, your toilet library (I've got one...)

Remain unknown? What the fsck?

[Deadstick (535032)]

Pi is exactly equal to the sum of the infinite series 4 - 4/3 + 4/5 - 4/7 + 4/9 - 4/11...

rj

Pi Joke

[lenmaster (598077)]

What is the volume of a pizza of radius z and thickness a?

Answer: pi*z*z*a

Re:Happy pi day everyone!!

[Brainless (18015)]

Screw Pi day, come on Steak-n-BJ Day!

Re:Happy pi day everyone!!

[XxtraLarGe (551297)]

Screw Pi day, come on Steak-n-BJ Day!

I'm married, you insensitive clod!

Re:Happy pi day everyone!!

[ArcherB (796902)]

Screw Pi day, come on Steak-n-BJ Day!

I'm married, you insensitive clod!

Then I guess you are looking forward to chicken and masturbation day!

Re:Happy pi day everyone!!

[lgw (121541)]

"At least I got chicken."

(not what Leroy Jenkins actually said, but it's still the meme.)

pi's value today

[Lucas123 (935744)]

My favorite part about this pi calculator [dbooth.net] are the two words at the end.

Re:Happy pi day everyone!!

[eln (21727)]

Sorry, but we missed Pi day by a longshot. Having Pi day on any old 3/14 lacks sufficient precision. Pi day was on March 14, 1592. Pi second would have been March 14, 1592 at 6:53 and 58 seconds in the morning. I'm sure they were partying like it was 1599 on that day.

m/dd/yyyy indeed?

[Animaether (411575)]

In the universally preferred notation (except for those who take being non-conformist to absurd levels), you'll mean the year 3141, May 9th at 2:53.58am in the morning.

So we didn't miss it - but we will be missing it, as none of us are going to be living to be that old.

Then again, this is all based on the current calendar (arbitrary) and how you interpret the numbers (arbitrary) as well as the date/time notation (arbitrary, as pointed out above) ( the last two being related to eachother as there's no, say, 31st of april.)

Re:m/dd/yyyy indeed?

[ElizabethGreene (1185405)]

None of us are going to be living? Speak for yourself. I just penciled it in the date on my calendar! (I'm signed up for Cryonics.)

-ellie

Re:

[bishiraver (707931)]

Have fun having your mind dumped into the body of a criminal in order to pilot a Bussard ramjet to seed far-off planets with terraforming modules [wikipedia.org]!

Just watch out for the kids when you get back to earth.

Re:Happy pi day everyone!!

[PlatyPaul (690601)]

Sadly, I used to live in a state where every day in March was nearly Pi Day [wikipedia.org]....

Re:

[Naughty Bob (1004174)]

This should have been posted at 1h59m26s past midnight.

Re:Happy pi day everyone!!

[hansamurai (907719)]

Tomorrow is the Ides of March, where I will pretend I'm well versed in Shakespeare.