People are primed to see signs and patterns in the world around them. This is the only way we can give meaning to the world and to ourselves. That is why many scientists are still thinking about calculating the famous number “pi”.
1. “Pi” is also referred to as the “circular constant” or “Archimedes constant”. π is one of the most widely known mathematical constants both inside and outside the scientific community.
2. People have been studying π for almost 4000 years. The history of π dates back to 2000 BC, the Babylonians calculated it as 3,125, and in ancient Egypt, it was calculated as 3,143.
3. The symbol for “Pi” (π) has been used regularly in its mathematical sense only for the past 250 years.
4. We will never be able to measure the area of a circle because we will never be able to accurately determine the value of “Pi” because it is an irrational number, which means that its numbers are calculated infinitely.
5. The “Pi” Day is celebrated every year on March 14, this date was chosen because 3/14 spells out the first three digits of π, which is 3.14. It is also interesting to note that it was on March 14, 1897 that Albert Einstein was born.
6. In a mirror, 3.14 looks like the word “pie”.
7. In 2015 was the first time in a century that the date (by the US calendar) is 3/14/15, which describes the first five digits of “Pi” – 3.1415. Mass elation will peak at 9.26:53 am when the date and time will describe it to 10 digits. The last Pi Day “better” than this one was 3/14/1592 at 6.53:58, which describes the first 12 digits of π.
8. The most common type of mnemonic is the word-length mnemonic in which the number of letters in each word corresponds to a digit. This simple one gives “Pi” to seven decimal places: How I wish I could calculate pi.
9. The first recorded use of π as a mathematical symbol comes from the Welsh mathematician William Jones in a 1706 work called Synopsis Palmariorum Matheseos, in which he abbreviated from the two Greek words “circumference” and “periphery”.
10. According to experts, “Pi” was discovered by Babylonian magicians. This mathematical constant was used in the construction of the tower of Babel, but an error in the calculation led to the collapse of the project.
11. The Google employee and Emma Haruka Iwao calculated 31,415,926,535,897 digits of π – crushing a 2016 record by trillions of digits.
12. Akira Haraguchi, 69, from Japan is a legend among memory masters, having memorized more than 83 thousand of Pi’s digits.
