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- March 14, written out as 3/14 in the US and a few other countries, is π day, as those are the first three digits of the famous number.
- π is one of the most important and fascinating numbers in math.
March 14, when written out in the American date style of
month/day, comes out as 3/14. That coincides with the three first
digits of π: 3.14, according to Andy Kiersz, senior quant reporter at Business Insider.
π is one of the most
important numbers in math. As you may recall from basic
geometry, π is defined as the ratio of a circle's circumference
to its diameter. So, anywhere where circles or cyclical things
show up, π tends to show up as well. It would be impossible to do
geometry, trigonometry, calculus, analysis of waves, or most
branches of math without the concept of π.
As a number, π is also itself fascinating. π is an irrational number - it can't be written as a fraction of two integers, no matter what integers you choose. One consequence of that is that the infinite decimal expansion of π never adopts a repeating pattern...
Explanation of pi and its importance
Even though circles, and therefore π, have been a subject of study for millennia - the great Greek mathematician Archimedes came up with a clever way of approximating π by drawing polygons inside and outside a circle to estimate the circle's circumference - π was only proven to be irrational in the 18th century, and transcendental in the 19th.
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| Aerial view of crop circles in Switzerland Photo: Crop circle - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
As a number, π is also itself fascinating. π is an irrational number - it can't be written as a fraction of two integers, no matter what integers you choose. One consequence of that is that the infinite decimal expansion of π never adopts a repeating pattern...
Explanation of pi and its importance
Even though circles, and therefore π, have been a subject of study for millennia - the great Greek mathematician Archimedes came up with a clever way of approximating π by drawing polygons inside and outside a circle to estimate the circle's circumference - π was only proven to be irrational in the 18th century, and transcendental in the 19th.
Happy π day!
Source: Business Insider and Tech Insider Channel (YouTube)
