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 everyone!!

[Brian Gordon]

Happy pi day :) :)

Re:Happy pi day everyone!!

[Brainless]

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

Re:Happy pi day everyone!!

[XxtraLarGe]

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

I'm married, you insensitive clod!

Re:Happy pi day everyone!!

[ArcherB]

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]

"At least I got chicken."

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

pi's value today

[Lucas123]

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

Re:Happy pi day everyone!!

[eln]

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]

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]

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]

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:

[Moridineas]

In the universally preferred notation (except for those who take being non-conformist to absurd levels),

I find the fact that you care so much about how some people write dates (and seek to apply odd psychological profiles to them!) mildly disturbing.

Re:

[calebt3]

I plan on living forever.
So far so good.

Re:

[MemoryAid]

You stopped short of claiming that pi, itself, was arbitrary. At least you are being rational.

(I probably deserve a pi in the face for attempting that pun. (and this one))

Re:

[Dun Malg]

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.

Ja, but trouble is, if you're going to cite issues of precision you'd have to put the date in proper order. That being the case, Pi day would more appropriately be 314/1/5--- Jan 5, 314 (at 9:26am).

Not if you are un-American!

[Roger W Moore]

Sorry, but we missed Pi day by a longshot.

Fortunately for those of us in the rest of the world where we use the more logical d/m/y time ordered notation we still have a couple of thousand years to go: 3/1/4159. It would have been earlier but April only has 30 days!

Re:Happy pi day everyone!!

[PlatyPaul]

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

Re:

[Naughty Bob]

This should have been posted at 1h59m26s past midnight.

Re:Happy pi day everyone!!

[hansamurai]

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

Re:

[s13g3]

Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more,
Or close up the equation with a logical end!

Re:

[holden caufield]

"Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears" would be more appropriate than quoting Henry V

And I believe it's "unto the breach"

not me

[BitterAndDrunk]

I'm packing my stabbing knife just in case I run into my buddy Jules.

Re:

[eikonoklastes]

Linky to a very appropriate Toothpaste For Dinner comic [toothpastefordinner.com]. I suspect most people here are dicks.

Re:

[Mateo_LeFou]

woot, chime in below if you're celebrating bday today. Alas I'm not, as I had my wisdom teeth out yesterday. ick

Happy Pi day...

[bugnuts]

... No cake for you!

Re:

[Brian Gordon]

The cake is a lie.

Re:

[ArcherB]

The cake is a lie.

Unless it has a pi symbol on it.. then it's a Pi Cake!

(of course, such a cake should be round, unless you are just really REALLY into irony)

Re:Happy Pi day...

[electricbern]

Actually, the cake is a Pi.

Re:

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"Actually, the cake is a Pi."

Oh great, not another one of you fools tryin to tell me that pie are square....

Re:

[PlatyPaul]

I'd rather have French Silk pie [bakerssqua...urants.com]....

True story: two of my high school's math teachers used to make sure that we got French Silk pie on Pi Day and 2^10 Day (October 24th [wikipedia.org], of course), with a bit of extra math fun (games, etc.) unrelated to the topic at hand. Sure, it's a bit of a corny idea, but we appreciated that little "extra step" they took to make math more approachable, beyond their excellent guidance.

If you're reading this: thank you, Mr. Petersen and Mr. Morse. You inspired me (and many of my

Opportunity Missed..

[fictionpuss]

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

Re:

[apdyck]

Where I live, it was posted pretty darned close to 3:14 pm...

Re:

[Brian Gordon]

It's already 3/14, that's why you celebrate it at 1:59.. 3/14 1:59

Re:

[apdyck]

I certainly understand your reference, I was simply making the point that, in Atlantic time, it was very close to 3:14 pm on 3/14.

Re:

[davidwr]

3.1415926535897932384626433832795

It takes excellent timing to do it at 03:14:59.26535897.....

Even so, I can't wait until 02:06:53.58979 May 9, A.D. 3141. Or should that be March 14, 1592, oh wait, too late. Maybe we can do it at 03:14:15 in '92.

Wrong day

[Ed Avis]

Surely 22/7 would be pi day.

Re:Wrong day

[eln]

Sorry, 22/7 is only approximately pi day.

Re:Wrong day

[Hillgiant]

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

Re:

[f97tosc]

Sorry, 22/7 is only approximately pi day.

22/7 is a better approximation than 3.14

Re:

[Brian Gordon]

Nope, that's pi approximation day [qwantz.com].

Re:

[OrangeCowHide]

Most of the world (non-US) writes 22/7. They also write 14/3. So why is this international Pi day?

Re:

[Alain Williams]

Most you you in the USA write it that way, most of the rest of the world writes day/month.

Re:

[Neko-kun]

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]

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]

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

Talk Like A Physicist Day

[klossner]

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]

(In Plank units)

Aren't plank units Board-Feet?

Re:Talk Like A Physicist Day

[Joe Snipe]

I believe you mean bohred-feet.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[dreamchaser]

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]

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

Unknown value?

[ElizabethGreene]

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]

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

Re:Unknown value?

[excelblue]

Don't you mean 10 (base pi)?

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

mod parent up

[damn_registrars]

Poster deserves props for the mathematical correction on the day devoted to a mathematical constant.

Good luck ever doing much in base-pi, though...

Re:

[debrain]

Don't you mean 10 (base pi)?

Would that be pi (base pi)?

Re:Unknown value?

[nine-times]

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]

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:

[lgw]

You can't do *discrete* math base pi, but there's plenty of other math you can do.

You can do non-integer bases, but it gets interesting. Non-rational bases get even more interesting. Maybe not practical for much, and you can't represent the "normal" integers usefully, but it's still a field and all of the abstract algebra still works.

correction

[geekoid]

"pi is an approximation of the ratio of diameter:circumference"

PI is exactly the ratio of diameter:circumference, we can only express it as an approximation in our number system.

PI = (ln -1)/(sqrt-1)

Re:

[timster]

But no system of representing numbers could express pi's relationship to 1 exactly without an infinite amount of information. We can express a method of calculating pi, for instance, but the method must necessarily have an infinite number of steps. That means the value cannot be found exactly, so in some sense it is very much "unknown".

Re:

[phliar]

"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]

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!

Re:

[DougWebb]

But no system of representing numbers could express pi's relationship to 1 exactly without an infinite amount of information.

What is it about the symbol for pi that makes it more or less special than the symbol '3', or either of their relationships to the symbol '1'?

There's a whole lot of math you can do using the symbol for pi to stand for the ratio between a circle's radius and circumference. The fact that it doesn't look like the symbols for decimal integers doesn't hurt it any; in fact, for most of

Re:

[timster]

I'm taking exception to the original post, not trying to define a measure of complexity. I quote:

That is like saying 1/3 is unknown just because you can't print enough 3's after the decimal place to be accurate.

This seems to think that the problem with expressing pi's value involves the use of a decimal number system, when it's actually an inherent difficulty of expressing this value with integers.

Re:Unknown value?

[Orange Crush]

Pi = 3.141592653589793helpimtrappedinauniversefactory7108914 [xkcd.com]

Re:

[popmaker]

Well, there are unsolved mysteries surrounding the digits of pi. The patterns they follow aren't really known. It is still not known weather they are uniformly-distributed. So we don't know them all, and we don't really know how they behave.

Compare that to the digits of 1/3 = 0.3333... They are pretty well known.

Weather pi is "unknown" or not is kind of an undefined question. By definition it is not. By the cool formulas we know how to get better approximations of it, it is not. By the behavior and dist

March 14, 2015

[andrewd18]

March 14, 2015 is going to be awesome. I think we should all coordinate our time off and have city-wide festivals (feastivals!) celebrating pi while eating ungodly amounts of it.

What do you mean by unknown?

[A beautiful mind]

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]

Pi's value is known totally precisely

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

Re:

[mctk]

It doesn't make pi any less definite though.

I think it does in a sense. Pi is precisely defined: it's the number that you get when you divide the circumference of a circle by its diameter. But that's not its value, that's its definition. And then we say, "Oh and look at all the other places it pops up and all of the other things we can do with it." We can say, it's the number that does this. It's the one you get when you do that. But we can't precisely place it on a number line. There is somethin

Obligatory Portal reference

[imbaczek]

The Pi is a lie.

grammar day?

[Speare]

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]

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

Re:grammar day?

[gardyloo]

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]

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?

Re:

[LanMan04]

I like my coffee black...black as midnight on a moonless night.

This is some DAMN fine pie!
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[Leeland]DANCE WITH ME! DANCE WITH ME![/Leeland]

Redundant?

[CSMatt]

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.

Seems kind of unnecessary to explain what Pi is on a site like Slashdot.

People with "pi" ...

[antdude]

... love this day. Unfortunately, we don't get presents or anything like that. :(

Re:

[Jearil]

At my job I arranged with my coworkers for everyone to bring in pies. I made peanut butter, but one of my coworkers made an apple pie that had the pi symbol carved out on the crust for steam holes.

Thinking about it though, I probably should have brought in half of a pie, because a whole pie is 2 pi which is overdoing things a bit.

Magic Numbers??

[jimlintott]

Magic numbers? WTF?

Pi is simply the ratio of the circumference of a circle to it's diameter. Where's the magic?

The square root of two is the square root of two. But I guess it's magic.

Did this guy study math at a religious school or something?

Happy PI day?

[ForestGrump]

Yea maybe you are happy, but I'm 3.14ssed!

to Quote Dr. Novella

[geekoid]

"ever is a long time."

freedom day

[pak9rabid]

I'm looking forward to freedom day [wikipedia.org]. My biggest concern is to go with an Italian or lemon-based flag marinade.

alternative representation in modular arithmetic

[peter303]

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

Re:alternative representation in modular arithmeti

[Dachannien]

Personally, I'm not very picky. I celebrate for the entire month of March, and I do my engineering calculations accordingly.

My company is celebrating Pi day

[irenaeous]

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]

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!

Re:

[Sigma 7]

In most other places it is 31/4.

Only if you are using dd/mm/yy.

The correct international date format uses the ISO format of yyyy-mm-dd - for pi day, it's 31415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164-06-28. Unlike the annual celebration, this one day event is something that you won't forget.

Re:

[bckrispi]

3/14 sound more like American Pi day.

This one time, at Math camp...

How did I not remember this?

[pi_rules]

I should celebrate this.

Re:

[LMacG]

As a form of celebration, I suggest walking around in a circle.

Pi approximation day

[popmaker]

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]

Wi?

[Quiet_Desperation]

Do I lose all geek cred if I admit I think celebrating a mathematical constant is silly?

These are the real pi moments

[Anonymous Coward]

For those of us on 64 bit surely:

date -d @3141592653
Sat Jul 20 20:37:33 EDT 2069

is the next pi moment.

You 32bit suckers have already passed the last one:

date -d @314159265
Sat Dec 15 21:27:45 EST 1979

And a long wait for the next pi moment after that:

date -d @31415926535
Sat Jul 13 02:15:35 EDT 2965

42

[Nathrael]

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-]

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]

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]

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

Answer: pi*z*z*a

Re:

[ShieldW0lf]

All I want is a big fat steak, a side order of fries, a case of beer, a bottle of scotch, a big fat joint, a backrub and a blowjob.

Is that too much to ask?

Re:

[russotto]

All I want is a big fat steak, a side order of fries, a case of beer, a bottle of scotch, a big fat joint, a backrub and a blowjob. Is that too much to ask?

That's President's Day. Provided the president is Bill Clinton, anyway.