When you mention “pi” to someone they probably think of the dessert “pie”. But when you start explaining to them about the number “pi” then their memory is slowly triggered to school and studying math and the finally to the number pi. Most are familiar with the symbol \pi being “equal” to 3.14. But most really don’t know much about the number.
The number pi is an irrational number. This means that it cannot be written as a fraction; it does not have a finite number of decimal places; it does not have a repeating pattern of decimals, that we know of yet.
Rather than rewriting up yet another post about pi that will get lost in the world wide web, below is a short list of links to sites that try to answer some of the question about the number pi. “What is pi?”, “What is the history of pi?”, “What is the definition of pi?”, “Where is pi used in real life?”, “How many digits of pi are there?” and finally, “What is pi day?” But before we start answering these questions, let’s see how the world celebrated Pi Day in 2019.
How the world celebrated ‘Pi Day’, David Cassel, Mar 2019, The New Stack, URL: https://thenewstack.io/how-the-world-celebrated-pi-day/
What is pi?
Pi, Wikipedia, URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi
What is Pi?, Elaine J. Horn, Oct 2018, Live Science, URL: https://www.livescience.com/29197-what-is-pi.html
What is pi?, piday, URL: https://www.piday.org/learn-about-pi/
What is pi?, Woderopolis, URL: http://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/what-is-pi
What is pi, and how did it originate?, Steven Bogart, May 1999, Scientific American, URL: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-pi-and-how-did-it-originate/
What is the history of pi?
A Brief History of Pi, Exploratorium, URL: https://www.exploratorium.edu/pi/history-of-pi
A brief history of pi, Sarah Jacobsson Purewal, Mar 2013, PCWorld, URL: https://www.pcworld.com/article/191389/a-brief-history-of-pi.html
A history of Pi, mathshistory, URL: http://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/
The History of Pi, David Wilson, 2000, URL: https://sites.math.rutgers.edu/~cherlin/History/Papers2000/wilson.html
The history of pi, Doyeon Jang, Nov 2018, URL: http://chalkdustmagazine.com/blog/the-history-of-pi/
What is the definition of pi?
Pi, math is fun, URL: https://www.mathsisfun.com/definitions/pi.html
Pi, Math Open Reference, URL: https://www.mathopenref.com/pi.html
Pi, Merriam-Webster, URL: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pi
Pi, Dictionary.com, URL: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/pi
Pi, Britannica, URL: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/pi
Where is pi used in real life?
Real Life Application of Pi, Amazing Discovery of Mathematics, URL: https://amazingarchimedes.weebly.com/real-life-application-of-pi.html
Why is Pi (actually) important, URL: https://www.angio.net/pi/whypi.html
Pi common in everyday life, not just dessert, Rod Walton, Mar 2014, Tulsa World, URL: https://www.tulsaworld.com/business/pi-common-in-everyday-life-not-just-dessert/article_d1e06850-b460-5ea6-8417-29bed2386234.html
Why pi matters, Steven Strogatz, Mar 2015, The New Yorker, URL: https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/pi-day-why-pi-matters
How Pi works, Marshal Brian & Dave Roos, Science – howstuffworks, URL: https://science.howstuffworks.com/math-concepts/pi1.htm
The mathematical significance of pi, Daniel Ullman, Mar 2018, Pacific Standard, URL: https://psmag.com/news/the-wonders-of-pi
Oh, the places we go: 18 ways NASA used pi, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, URL: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/learn/list/oh-the-places-we-go-18-ways-nasa-uses-pi/
How many digits of pi are there?
Pi, Anyone? The secret to memorizing tens of thousands of digits, Tanya Lewis, Mar 2015, Live Science, URL: https://www.livescience.com/50134-pi-day-memory-experts.html
He ate all the pi: Japanese man memorizes pi to 111 700 digits, Alex Bellos, Mar 2015, The Guardian, URL: https://www.theguardian.com/science/alexs-adventures-in-numberland/2015/mar/13/pi-day-2015-memory-memorisation-world-record-japanese-akira-haraguchi
Pi World Ranking List, URL: http://pi-world-ranking-list.com/index.php?page=lists&category=pi
Pi Day 2017: Meet the record-holders for memorizing digits of pi, Talia Jane, Mar 2017, Mic.com, URL: https://www.mic.com/articles/171103/pi-day-2017-meet-the-record-holders-for-memorizing-digits-of-pi
Asia leads the world in the feat of reciting thousands of Pi digits, Malaka Gharib, Mar 2016, npr.org, URL: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/03/14/470412581/asia-leads-the-world-in-the-feat-of-reciting-thousands-of-pi-digits
What is pi day?
The NASA Pi day challenge, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, URL: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/nasapidaychallenge/?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NASA/JPL%20Edu&utm_content=piday2017_educators
Pi Day March 14, 2020, exploratorium, URL: https://www.exploratorium.edu/pi
Amid Coronavirus fears, tech companies cut back on pie orders for Pi day, Becky Duffett, Mar 2020, Eater, URL: https://sf.eater.com/2020/3/9/21171962/tech-companies-pie-orders-pi-day
From bakeries to pizza places, this year’s Pi day will be bigger than ever, Micheline Maynard, Mar 2020, Forbes, URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelinemaynard/2020/03/09/from-bakeries-to-pizza-places-this-years-pi-day-will-be-bigger-than-ever/#23faca834d3d
Pi Day, Wikipedia, URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi_Day
Fun holiday – Pi Day, timeanddate, URL: https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/fun/pi-day
Pi Day 2020, piday, URL: https://piday.co/
