So here we have pi squared, which an engineer would call "10." -Frank King It's Pi Day today in the United States: March 14th, or as we write it, 3/14. (Don't know how you do it in Europe, where there is no 31st of April.) So, let's start things off with a song for the day: Cab Calloway's "Everybody Eats When They Come To My House."
Of course, pi is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, and trying to measure it as accurately as possible has been a challenge that humans have taken on for thousands of years.
(Even Google gets in on the Pi Day action.) Most people know Archimedes' 22/7 as a good approximation (it will get you 3.14); my favorite is 355/113, which gets you the first seven digits, and is the best fractional approximation of pi with a denominator under 10,000!
Over here at scienceblogs, there is a Pie contest for Pi Day!
Unfortunately for us all, despite the fact that I love to cook, pie crusts from scratch are out of my league as a baker. So, at my house today -- this Pi Day -- we're having an alternative celebration to pie.
To all my old college roommates who might still be reading this, the answer is yes. I'm still baking cookies, and they're still delicious. And I hope your Pi day is filled with delicious circles, too!
Comments
Here in Europe we celebrate on 22nd July.
Posted by: Ian | March 14, 2010 2:27 PM
I completely unconnectedly baked a plum pie Thursday night (it wasn't very good).
What one earth do you use for crusts? My dictionary tells me "shortcrust pastry" is the translation for what I make, and that's as easy as, well, pie.
I can't make them as elaborately pretty as that picture, though. No artistic talent.
Posted by: Sili | March 14, 2010 3:06 PM
and what's the volume of a pizza with radius 'z' and height 'a'?
Posted by: Ross | March 14, 2010 5:06 PM
Sili, if you can get Pillsbury frozen pie crust I'd just do that. My mother is very good at making them but she does buys those instead because they taste about the same and require no effort other than unfolding them correctly. My husband does something with water, flour, shortening, and a tool to blend it all together (http://www.kitchenkrafts.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_BE1918) but that seems to take forever.
Posted by: mena | March 14, 2010 5:55 PM
Those cookies look quite tasty, but if those are circles, forgive if I choose a different approximation for pi... :-)
Posted by: Size | March 15, 2010 9:17 AM
I always thought that Europeans celebrated Pi Day on the 3rd of Dodecember. Thanks for the help, Ian!
Posted by: AJKamper | March 15, 2010 9:38 AM
Here in Europe I celebrate Pi day on the 30.1415926th of April.
Posted by: davem | March 15, 2010 3:03 PM
That song is so clearly about oral sex.
Posted by: Jonathan | March 16, 2010 4:14 AM