Slashdot Mirror
Happy Pi Day
Jonathan writes "Today, the 14th of March, is Pi Day 2008. Pi Day is internationally celebrated in honor of the mathematical constant "Pi," who's actual value will — now and forever — remain unknown. NeoSmart Technologies has a run-down on the history of Pi, Pi Day, and the significance of Pi and other such "magical numbers" to science and technology. 'Pi isn't just a number that you can use to calculate circle-related mathematics, it's a symbol of something by far greater. Pi is one of many "magic" numbers that are found everywhere — if you know where to look. These magic numbers can't be explained, they just are. And if you use them right, they make it a lot easier to do a lot of really complicated things... In a way, they're a testimony to technology and computers (or vice-versa, depending on how you look at it).'"
... No cake for you!
To post this story at 1:59pm, or 12 hours earlier depending upon which clock you prefer.
Surely 22/7 would be pi day.
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
Bask in its glory!
My work here is dung.
I would not say that it has an unknown value, the value is known as the ratio of a circle's diameter and circumference. Just because our system of representing numbers is flawed in that it cannot accurately define numeric sequences that approach infinity doesn't mean it is unknown... That is like saying 1/3 is unknown just because you can't print enough 3's after the decimal place to be accurate.
Silly boys.
-ellie
Screw Pi day, come on Steak-n-BJ Day!
Sorry, but we missed Pi day by a longshot. Having Pi day on any old 3/14 lacks sufficient precision. Pi day was on March 14, 1592. Pi second would have been March 14, 1592 at 6:53 and 58 seconds in the morning. I'm sure they were partying like it was 1599 on that day.
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
The Pi is a lie.
Tomorrow is the Ides of March, where I will pretend I'm well versed in Shakespeare.
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
In the universally preferred notation (except for those who take being non-conformist to absurd levels), you'll mean the year 3141, May 9th at 2:53.58am in the morning.
So we didn't miss it - but we will be missing it, as none of us are going to be living to be that old.
Then again, this is all based on the current calendar (arbitrary) and how you interpret the numbers (arbitrary) as well as the date/time notation (arbitrary, as pointed out above) ( the last two being related to eachother as there's no, say, 31st of april.)
When can we have grammar day? First, it is "whose," as possessive pronouns never use apostrophes. Second, it is not even "whose" because Pi isn't a person.
[
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
This schema fails if you continue to minutes and seconds:
.14159265 months .3893706 days .3448944 hours .693664 minutes .61984 seconds
March 14, 15:92:65
The proper representation is modular-place arithmetic. Instead of assuming each number chunk is either decimal or hundreds, you use the actual size of the place. The Calendar places are:
12 months
31 days
24 hours
60 minutes
60 seconds
So 3.14159265 is
3 months, remainder
4 days, remainder
9 hours, remainder
20 minutes, remainder
42 seconds, remainder
In other words March 4 9:20:43
at least in the engineering department. We are having pie as a group at 1:59 this afternoon.
BTW, today is also Albert Einstein's birthday.
My favorite part about this pi calculator are the two words at the end.
Sadly, I used to live in a state where every day in March was nearly Pi Day....
Misery loves company. Online misery loves unsuspecting random strangers.
"At least I got chicken."
(not what Leroy Jenkins actually said, but it's still the meme.)
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Hm, just by the way, already noticed that Pi multiplied with 13,37 is approximately 42? Mathematics definitely play an important role for solving the answer to life, the universe, and everything...
A good education is a bit like a STD - it makes you unsuitable for a lot of jobs and gives you a desire to spread it.
rj
What is the volume of a pizza of radius z and thickness a?
Answer: pi*z*z*a