Monday, March 14, 2016

HAPPY PI DAY 2016!

March 14.
Julius Caesar was warned to beware the Ides of March, which is actually tomorrow, but today is gaining in popularity for a different reason.

The third month's fourteenth day, 3-14, or more precisely: 3.14 is the start of the (in)famous mathematical symbol known as Pi. π

An irrational number that cannot be fully expressed as a fraction, although most scientists and mathematicians prefer to write it as 22 over 7.

A constant representing the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, most people only go as far as reciting it to the fourth or fifth place after the decimal point, although some have tried to figure it out to the end.

A few speculate that the answers to the universe can be found in the equation. In the classic Star Trek episode "Wolf in the Fold", the Enterprise's computer was ordered to compute Pi to the last digit as part of an attempt to defeat the enemy of the week, although we never discovered the answer.



Cohen gave it a good shot in the image at right, and computers have been used to track Pi to over 67,000 digits without completing the sequence!

Whatever the case, HAPPY PI DAY!

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