This Thursday is 3.14, which means it’s Pi Day! Pi is an infinite sequence of numbers, but is closely represented as 3.14, and so here in the US, where we represent our days with the month in front and the day behind, 3.14 is a fun way to celebrate pi and all things associated with it.
To begin, let’s talk about why pi is so special. Pi is a ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, which is something many of us learn in geometry class. However pi is certainly outside of the circle, it’s a formula that appears in so many different things in life – it is literally all over the place! Many feel a strong connection to this number as it seems to be a part of what our whole existence is made of – especially when you look deeper into physics. With that said, here are 6 facts about Pi and where it appears in everyday lives.
Cars
Chances are when you’re driving or riding in a car, you aren’t thinking about an infinite list of numbers and how it’s connected to the car. However, everything with curvature has pi, versus straight lines, which don’t. This means that all the cylinders firing in a car engine to make a car run involve pi and pi is necessary to allow us transportation in pretty much any vehicle.
Pies
Yes, we’re talking real, delicious, edible pies. Whether you like your pies savory or sweet, the round curvature of a pie is quite literally pi put into place. Pies are generally made in circular shaped pans or dishes and something you cut from the center on out to make slices. All that pie baking, cutting and eating, is all involving math in general, but especially the pi formula, because it’s involving a circle, circumference and radius. Next time you order a chicken pot pie at your favorite restaurant or you eat pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, you will be indulging on sweet, sweet pi.
Time
Have you ever wondered how on earth do people make clocks to tell time accurately? Well, it turns out that clock designers use pi when designing pendulums for clocks. Pendulums are swinging weight that use gravity and length of swing to determine time. They create part of an arc as they swing back and forth and that arc is part of a complete circle, if the pendulum where to swing all the way around. Being a part of a circle means the use of Pi.
Nature
Nature is often remarked about as being beautiful and incredible. Many people enjoy basking in the beauty of nature and it’s wonder. Pi is all over in nature! It is used to measure many things that occur in nature like ocean waves, sounds waves, river bends and mountain distribution by using circles. Pi is also found in visual patterns in nature. Take zebras and leopards, for instance. Their patterns are so unique and revered that we create clothing, furniture, upholstery etc. to mimic them. However, those beautiful stripes and spots also have certain size and space ratios from one another that are encoded by a constant: pi.
Art
Because pi can be found in any circle, it’s obvious that pi is a natural part of a lot of art. Art with curves, waves and circles all contains pi. Even more interesting are artists who specifically try to convey what pi looks like in its infinite form. Some of these artistic renditions of Pi look like circles with various colors representing numbers, while others look like digital diagrams. Martin Krzywinskiis a very well known pi artist who works in bioinformatics and data visualization believes that pi makes really interesting art because the digits that appear in the very long, decimal extension of the 3.14 number have no order. His art then, often using colors and shapes to represent the numbers of 3.14159265359… ends up looking highly abstract.
Genetics
Pi is inside each and every one of us! Pi is found in the structure of our body in our DNA. DNA, the carrier of genetic information that makes everything in life unique from one another, forms a shape called a double helix that looks sort of like a spiral ladder. The ladder like structures is held together by what are called pi bonds and they stack on top of one another to make sure our DNA stays together.
You might think Pi Day is a silly holiday, but, if there is a number out there worth paying tribute to for doing a lot of heavy lifting, it’s pi. It’s everywhere and it isn’t hard to make the case that modern society as well as nature depends on it. Perhaps paying homage to such a great number isn’t a such a bad idea after all.
Happy Pi Day (and week!) from Mathnasium of Parker! Check out these fun activities to do in celebration of Pi Day.
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