All About Pi
If you are walking down the street and you hear the word “pie”, you might start thinking about the dessert and all of its different flavors: apple, blueberry, sweet potato, pumpkin, cherry, and more. However, if you’re in a math class and hear the word “pi”, your teacher probably isn’t talking about that delicious dessert. Instead, they are likely talking about a number called pi. You might even see the symbol π, on the board or on your paper, which is used to represent pi.
What is pi?
How to measure the diameter and the circumference of a circle. The diameter divided by the circumference is equal to pi (π)!
First, we have to talk about circles! The distance around the outside of a circle is called the circumference of a circle. The length from one side of a circle to the other side (across the middle) is called the diameter of a circle. The ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle is actually equal to the number pi (π). A ratio is another way of talking about division, so if we divided the diameter by the circumference, the result would be π. This result would be the same for any circle of any size!
What does π look like written out as a number?
π is classified as an irrational number because it has many decimal places that go on to infinity, with no specific pattern to the order of the numbers. Sometimes, instead of writing π or pi, people abbreviate the number and write 3.14…
This is because π is approximately equal to:
3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197… and on! People actually hold competitions to see who can memorize and recite the most numbers of π!
Eat some pie to celebrate pi (π)!
So what is “Pi Day”?
“Pi Day” is a day that celebrates the existence of the number π! We celebrate π on March 14th, because March is the third month of the year, and the date 3/14 looks like the first three digits of π (3.14).
So on March 14th each year, now you know that you can celebrate the existence of π, either by learning more about the number or, if you’re feeling hungry, by eating your favorite flavor of pie!
Other Resources
Visit the official Pi Day website to learn more about the history of pi, fun facts about pi, and find fun activities related to pi:
Here are some fun activities that you can do at home that are related to π:
Here are some videos that you could use to try and memorize the first 100 digits of π! Who knows, maybe one of your math teachers one day will have a contest to see who in your class can remember the most digits of π:
