Plans for Pi Day ’14?

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falling-digits-calendarWhat are you up to this Pi Day season? Each year is unique for me, as I seek new audiences with whom to share in the joy of our crazy number. In 2013, I spent Pi Day in Manhattan, speaking to a couple hundred middle schoolers who were on a field trip to the National Museum of Mathematics (or MoMath for short). It’s an amazing and still quite new institution that you should most certainly visit the next time you’re in the Big Apple. Later that day, I spoke at a private company’s Pi Day celebration. Pretty cool that Pi Day isn’t just celebrated in classrooms, eh?

This year, I’ve got three events lined up, all of which are in my home state of Colorado.

    • On March 6, I’ll be sharing in some early Pi Day fun with students at a local elementary school.
    • On March 13, I’ll be talking about all things Pi on Colorado Matters, a daily program on Colorado Public Radio.
    • On March 14, I’ll be giving a guest lecture at 4:00pm in the Math Department at the University of Colorado in Boulder (open to the public).

I’m excited to have three very different events on the slate this year!  And my eyes and ears are always open for last-minute invitations and requests, or for ideas about where I might spend my Pi Day next year!  (We’ll come back to the important topic of Pi Day ’15, or 3.14.15, in a future post!)

Okay, that’s plenty about me.  What are you and your students (or your friends, family, or coworkers) up to this Pi Day?  Send over your fun stories, either before or after, and perhaps we’ll collect enough to warrant a dedicated page here on TeachPi.org where they can be shared and enjoyed by everyone else!

Your Pi pal,

Luke

What I’ve Learned Since Last Pi Day

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Greetings after a long but not-so-quiet Pi Day “off-season”!  It’s been quite a year, and there are many new stories to tell about the people and particulars of Pi.  I hope to impart each of them to you in greater depth here at TeachPi.org soon, but just to share a taste of what’s been happening, here is what I’ve learned since last Pi Day…

  • An artist in Seattle has been assembling the digits of Pi in 9-inch squares of fabric sent to her by folks around the country and world, and will be unveiling it on Pi Day.  She’s surpassed 1,000!
  • A man in India has been working diligently for the past 26 years to prove to the world that Pi is not actually transcendental, and that the true value of Pi is not 3.1415926…, but rather 3.1464466… Hmm.  More on this friendly fellow another time.
  • A very young girl in Louisiana is poised to take the digit-memory world by storm, having already recited more than 600 digits in – get this – 1st grade!  She is in 2nd grade this year, so watch out, kid memorizers at the top of the rankings!
  • There is an obscure phenomenon known as “self-locating strings” of Pi digits, which I investigated from scratch after receiving a question from a Pi fan.  I then briefly thought I had kind of discovered the first few of these strings, but was quickly and appropriately humbled after a chat with a Harvard mathematician friend, who knows a bit more about this, and pretty much everything, than I do!
  • The 16th root of 90,000,000 is 3.1415.  Go figure!

 

What stories from the last year do you have to share?  As our Pi community expands, and reaches an unprecedented peak of visibility on the big 3.14.15, there will undoubtedly be countless new stories of Pi intersecting with our lives, our students, our culture, and our world.  Please, by all means, let the storytelling begin!  Please send over any stories of Pi in your life, whether on Pi Day or on any other day of the year.

Your Pi pal year-round,

Luke

TeachPi.org’s New Look

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Welcome to the new and improved TeachPi.org! Like a much-loved teddy bear, the site has been a companion to many teachers and Pi lovers for several years now, but it had been stitched together (with love) in an earlier time, and was starting to show some signs of wear and tear. So, I decided that it was time to invest in the future of TeachPi.org and in those who continue to enjoy it and contribute to it year after year.

While you will find all of the same content and features from the old site here, this new platform will allow me both to add new things, and to interact with you, more easily than ever before! This blog itself is one such new feature. I plan to engage more often and more directly with you, and to bring you more stories – both from the world of Pi history, and from my own journeys as a Pi Day speaker and performer. (Yes, I am Pi Diddy, and Pi Diddy is me. More on that later.)

Hopefully this initial post whets your appetite a bit for what’s to come. The great thing about Pi is that it’s always growing (in digits, significance, fan base, etc.), and so we all have good reason to keep growing in our collective knowledge of it, and in our enthusiasm for celebrating with number lovers of all ages!

Stay tuned as Pi Day ’14 approaches…

The Big One is Here – 3.14.15!

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Some are calling it the Pi Day of the century.  Others, more dramatically, have deemed it the only (true) Pi Day of our lives.  Whatever you call it, 3.14.15 is undeniably the biggest day in the modern history of math holidays.  Well, in our ten-fingered world, that is.

(On that side note, this whole holiday has a distinctly base-10 bias, doesn’t it?  In the 8-fingered Simpsons world, for example, Pi would be 3.1103… and we would have celebrated the Big One back on March 11, 2003.  Go figure.)

As a devoted member of the Pi Day community for more than 15 years now, I have looked forward to this beautiful, momentous occasion for an incredibly long time.  I’ll be ringing in the big moment, 9:26:53 on 3.14.15, in the Los Angeles area, where I’ll be speaking at a math conference later that afternoon.

(If anyone in L.A. has ideas for more Pi Day fun with me or with Pi Diddy, who just might also be making an appearance in the area on that day, let us know by sending over a quick note!)

Where will you be when the moment strikes?  Don’t make yourself wait another 100 years to do the holiday right!  Yes, it’s on a Saturday, which might throw a bit of a wrench into your plans to celebrate with your students or your work colleagues, but hey, the Big One landing on a weekend gives you maximum flexibility to make it a Pi Day you’ll never forget!

3.14.15 forever,

Luke

3.14.16 is upon us… um, Rounded Pi Day?

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We all now have our stories of where we were, who we were with, and what kind of pie we were chewing at the Big Moment last year: 3/14/15, 9:26:53.  Nothing will ever quite match the grandeur of that one.  Where was I?  I was in a room of 500 math majors and professors in Los Angeles, and we were listening to a delightful Pi-themed lecture (my talk came later that day).  The speaker wanted us to interrupt him as the moment was approaching, and I was keeping a close eye on the site Time.Is on my phone, which lit up each successive digit as they ticked into place.  I started the group chant, “10, 9, 8, 7, …”, and then it struck.  Boom.  An unforgettable moment indeed!

(Oh, and the evening before, things were already getting pretty festive in my world.  On my way to the airport, I happened to hear a clip of Pi Diddy’s rap played on NPR’s All Things Considered, and my “Pi Day of the Century” t-shirt led to a couple of folks taking what had to be the world’s math-geekiest “celebrity selfie” with me in the airport security line!  Kind of surreal.)

But that was SO 2015.  The year when anyone and everyone noticed and followed along.  Now we’re back to the core club of Pi Day fans.  You know who you are.  The ones who might get a bit excited that it’s Rounded Pi Day (3.14.16), but who don’t even need that kind of extra flair to get fired up about March 14.  So, let’s jump right in to Pi Day ’16.

What am I up to?  This year, Pi Day once again falls on a school day, and I’ll be presenting about the history and mystery of Pi to several groups of 8th and 9th graders in the Denver, Colorado area.  I’ve also written an article in defense of Pi Day for the current issue of Math Horizons Magazine, a publication of the Mathematical Association of America, in an issue with lots of other great Pi-related articles. (Read about the issue here; unfortunately, the content isn’t freely available online.)  Yes, someone actually wrote an anti-Pi Day article that I was asked to counter for the magazine.  Who could be against a day that helps so many kids get so excited about math?  I don’t think I need to convince you of this, given that you’re, um, presently reading a blog on a pi website.  Enough said!

What are you up to?  Now that we’re rolling into a fresh school week of Pi Days (2016-2019), I’m eager to hear more about the activities you’re doing with your students, how many digits they’re memorizing, and what kinds of pi tunes you’re rocking out to in class or in your spare time.  Post a comment here, or drop me a line!

By the way, if you ever needed help arguing for using precious class time, and brain bandwidth, to encourage your students or classmates to memorize digits of pi, check out this new story here on TeachPi.org.  Science to the rescue!

Rounded off or not,

Luke

Uh-Oh… Pi Day’s Getting Political?

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Hi, Friends in Pi!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Another Pi Day is approaching, and while there’s not much mathematically special about 3/14/17 (except maybe for the fact that 3+14=17, but who’s counting?), this year’s holiday is apparently going to make a splash in an unexpected way. The news cycle on Pi Day 2017, when it isn’t making oft-used pi/pie puns while playing Pi Diddy’s rap, will likely be focused on a protest.

No, it’s not a protest of our beloved number. Who could ever protest Pi? Well, other than that Tau Manifesto guy or those ten naysayers back in ’09. Rather, it’s a political protest, planned by and for workers in science and technology fields. The center of the action will be the town square in Palo Alto, CA, where folks will gather for an event they’re calling “Tech Stands Up.” It officially kicks off at Pi Time, 1:59pm. They are expecting similar events to spring forth in other American cities too. Yep, you can’t make this stuff up.

(Incidentally, just 35 miles up the 101 into the heart of San Francisco, at the very same time, the Exploratorium will be marking its 30th annual Pi Day celebration with free admission and its usual over-the-top antics like the Pi Procession. Hey, this is the museum that is credited as the birthplace of Pi Day, so they’re allowed to celebrate it however they like!)

So anyway, as someone who likes to use Pi to bring us all together in an appreciation of the beauty of math, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about Pi Day becoming political. I suppose this isn’t actually the first time these two irrational entities have overlapped; once again, if you don’t know what happened in Congress in 2009, you might want to read that story, which happens to feature someone who is now the Vice President.

But co-opting Pi Day for politics is a bit of a slippery slope. What’s next? Legislating Pi’s value as exactly 2.9 after coercion from a local crackpot? Oh wait, that happened too, back in 1895. Misquoting Pi’s value under oath in a famous murder trial? Suing for the legal rights to Pi’s melody? Argh! Both also happened, and man, I need to write up and share some more of these stories! Trust me, the Stories section here at TeachPi.org is only a thin slice of Pi’s volumes of tales.

Anyway, it’s all pretty irrational, if you ask me. (Yes, pun once again intended.) If you need me, I’ll be lying low on Pi Day, just doing my normal thing and celebrating with a presentations and performances by my friend Pi Diddy at a local middle school. My favorite way to spend the day is, and always will be, using stories and silliness to help kids get a little more excited about math.

Enjoy your Pi Day, the 30th one on record (thanks again, Exploratorium!), and let me know where the day leads you — whether out onto the streets, into a festive classroom, or simply down a lovely stream of digits!

Luke

Pi Day ’18 – The Fun Never Ends (Nor Do The Digits…)

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Hi, Pi pals!

We’ve endured nearly a full year since our last excuse to celebrate our favorite number, and now, well, we’re back! The math-holiday highlight of the months since the last Pi Day was most certainly the “e Day of the Century,” which we hit (and many of us likely missed) on 2.7.18. The number e, which math students know as the natural log, starts out 2.71828, so hey, February 7, 2018 was pretty much as good as it was going to get for that little guy. Happy belated e Day!

But back to the number of honor. Do you have any special plans this year? I’m pretty excited about mine. After years of admiring it from afar, I will be in attendance for the celebration at the birthplace of Pi Day, and on its 30th birthday, no less. Yes, the Exploratorium in San Francisco was where Pi Day is considered to have been founded, way back in 1988, and as a 20-year veteran of the holiday myself, I will finally get to see their unique tribute up close. Can’t wait! I’ll also be giving a talk on Pi for the math faculty and students at a nearby Bay Area university. Good times with friends of Pi.

If you’re a teacher, don’t forget to record your top students’ digit memory counts and send them in for consideration for TeachPi.org’s definitive K-12 rankings! We’re all waiting with bated breath for just how many digits the 5th phenom from Louisana, Adriana Martin, is going to bust out this year. Will anyone come close to filling her shoes in the younger grades, or fend her off as she blazes into the record books in her upcoming grades? Only time will tell. Go Adriana (and everyone else)!

Well, as always, if you have something particularly fun to share about your Pi Day, please share away! Otherwise, enjoy have a wonderful 3.14.18, and if you’ll be at the Exploratorium too, catch me for a hello!

Luke

Riding High from Pi Day Princeton!

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Hey, Pi People!

Hope you’re all geared up for a great Pi Day 2019! As for me, my Pi Day celebration started nice and early. I was a special guest at what I would consider to be one of the two biggest Pi Day celebrations on the planet: Pi Day Princeton! (I was lucky enough to visit the other one last year.)

The lovely and historic town of Princeton, New Jersey has, for more than a decade now, put on quite the Pi Day party.  A fellow you may have heard of named Al Einstein spent the final 22 years of his life here, and oh, by the way, he was born on March 14.  So, in a beautiful fusion of math and science (and history) excitement, Princeton has perfected the art of celebrating Pi and Einstein at once!

I can’t say enough about how much fun I had on March 9 (they hold the festivities on the Saturday prior to 3/14, for max access to fun).  My day began with a no-hands, pie-eating contest (I did participate but was blown away by some local pros with vacuum-like pie consumption skills).

We then threw a surprise birthday party for ol’ Albert, who looks pretty good for 140, and followed that with a kids’ Einstein costume contest that I got to help judge.  Little 4-year-old Eleanor was the most adorable Einstein you could ever imagine (if there is such a thing!), and she won the prize of an oversized check for $314.15 and the lifelong privilege of joining the panel of judges.

I then got to judge a far more serious event – the Pi digit recitation contest.  My fellow judges included the first person ever to memorize more than 10,000 digits, and the current North American record holder at 15,314 digits!  My puny 250 digits paled in comparison to these two titans, but we made a solid judging bench.  (Oh yeah, a legit Einstein impersonator/expert was the fourth judge, just for good measure!)

The contest was won in dramatic fashion by 12-year-old Kanayo, who paced in a figure-8 as he recited – wait for it – 1,171 digits!  (Don’t forget to share your students’ memory feats.)  And he told me afterward that he actually knows upwards of 3,000 digits – amazing!  He was honored with a surprise appearance and rap performance by Pi Diddy.

The afternoon continued with a parade around the town square, an apple pie bake-off contest, and a pub crawl for the grown-ups to reflect on the nonstop Pi/Einstein bonanza that was.

If you live anywhere remotely near Princeton, NJ, I would highly recommend you catch the festivities next year!  Just mark that Saturday before 3/14 on your calendar.

Well, if your real Pi Day is half as much fun as my pre-Pi Day was, then you’re in for a great one!

Your Pi pal,

Luke

A Pi Day to… forget? :-(

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Hi friends,

It’s usually a good thing when Pi Day falls on a Saturday. The last two times this has taken place were both momentous dates in our shared history of Pi:

 

  • 2015:  March 14 fell on a Saturday in 2015, which, of course, marked the Pi Day of the Century (3.14.15).  I’ll never forget where I was – cheering at the precise moment with 500 fellow math lovers at a gathering in Los Angeles, where I later gave a keynote lecture and  my pal Pi Diddy interrupted the official digit memory contest with a surprise rap performance.  (He’s such a spotlight-hog.)
  • 2009:  This Pi Day Saturday capped off the end of a historic week in which the U.S. House of Representatives debated and (not quite unanimously) passed a resolution to recognize and honor our favorite holiday.  I was also with a group of about 250 math folks on the big day, speaking, performing, and sharing the breaking news coming out of the halls of Congress.

But alas, Saturday, March 14, 2020 came and went with a bit of a whimper for most of us, myself included.  While many kids continued to crank out ever-impressive additions to the rankings, we’ve generally had bigger things on our mind this year than the joy of an infinitely beautiful number.  Instead, we’ve all been focused on bending the curve of the spread of the covid-19 virus away from infinity and toward zero.  Kudos to everyone who has been making sacrifices and helping their fellow humans during this time of worldwide need.

The nice thing about infinity is that there will always be another digit, and there will always be another Pi Day.  For this one, we Pi people just had to keep it simple and celebrate quietly.  For my part, I sang Pi Day carols with my kids over slices of apple pie.  Good enough for 3.14.20.  Looking forward to 3.14.21.

Stay healthy and never stop appreciating the beauty in the world around us – numerical and otherwise!

Luke

An Infinite Year… But It’s (Almost) Time for Cheer!

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Saturday, March 14, 2020 feels like a very long time ago.  As I’ve said before, some of my favorite Pi Days of all time have been on Saturdays, including, of course, 3.14.15, the Pi Day of the Century.  So I had naturally been looking forward to it, as I’m sure you were.  But alas, instead of marking another great moment in the story of our favorite number, 3.14.20 marked one of the first moments in a new and not-so-great story that, a year later, isn’t quite over.

In many ways, the last year has felt irrational, full of randomness, and, if nothing else, infinite.  While these are the qualities that we celebrate about ol’ 3.14159, they’re much harsher to face in the real-life form of a grinding global pandemic.  I have personally been fortunate not to experience very much hardship as a result, nor to lose anyone close to me to it, and my heart goes out fully to those of you who have.  If boredom and monotony feel infinite, then how much more unending are the feelings of grief and loss?

But there’s hope.  Soon we’ll be able to go out, gather, and do silly and superfluous things again.  Maybe some of us are already there, but for many of us, Pi Day 2021 will come and go quietly on a Sunday, without much of a trace.  For those of us still stuck in neutral, it’s my hope that teachers, kids, and number lovers all over the world can pause on Sunday to smile, hum a Pi Day carol or two to themselves, and look forward to the end of this seemingly endless string of digits, er, days that we don’t ever want to relive or recount.

We need the nonsense of Pi Day — in our classrooms, in our imaginations, and heck, even in our hearts.  And when Pi Day 2022 finally crests the horizon, let’s never forget the feeling of having to leave a couple of pages blank in the journal of our favorite number.  Let’s cherish the pages we can fill in.  Let’s make Pi Day, and every day, count.

With infinite love for Pi and all of Pi’s friends,

Luke