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10 Ways To Celebrate Pi Day
alphadogg writes "There are holidays, and then there are holidays for nerds, and March 14 (3.14) is one of those. Based on the mathematical constant number that represents the ratio between the circumference and the diameter of a circle, Pi Day has grown to become somewhat of a day to celebrate for mathematicians and techies. Here are 10 things to do on the big day."
Call me back when you have a list with 3.14 ways to do it.
You got something? Next time use a condom. Kids these days!
Rather than one single page which you can read in one go?
Gonna go home tonight, and grill up a few steaks. And then hopefully the wife will give me a hummer... screw pie day, it is Steak & BJ Day!
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
I'm on the east coast of the USA. This story was posted two minutes before it should have been.
Posted by samzenpus on 01:57 PM March 14th, 2012
The pain was excruciating and the scarring is likely permanent, but that just means it's working.
...walking in circles all day.
That was an incredibly dumb, ad-laden slideshow. How much does Network World pay to get adclicks for these stupid stories? Seriously did they spend anything more than 5 minutes chunking that turd out?
It's my birthday. When all of your friends are nerds, they totally forget about it.
I think this is what having a birthday on Christmas like.
Nah, I'd rather have cake. But I will have 3.14 slices of it.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
"Based on the mathematical constant number that represents the ratio between the circumference and the diameter of a circle"
In case you're reading slashdot and don't know what pi is.
Sensible to you maybe. The American way reads the way the date is normally spoken. We usually say "March 14th 2012", not "the 14th of March 2012. Sometimes other people do things differently. We also drive on the wrong side of the road! Get over it.
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
The American way reads the way the date is normally spoken
Only in America though- most people elsewhere say 14th of March. That said- just about all countries have thier idiosyncracies... ... admittedly America has more than most.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
If would have the benefit of doubling as an "e-/i-(something)" pun in addition to its numerical quality. And no, don't say it. I'm aware that my suggestions tend to be irrational.
It isn't the irrationality of your suggestion that is the problem, it's that it is too complex.
"None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
First I taught my kids (age 5 and 6) about Pi with a circle drawing and a ruler and some string.
Then I taught them about the greek alphabet so they would understand what the "Pi" symbol came from
Then I taught them about homophones
Then I taught them about puns based on homophones
Then we made a pie, they learned about measuring and cooking.
Then we ate pie while they snickered about the fact that they don't have to do school work during spring break.
I am a little happy that Pi day is noticed, and perhaps gives an excuse to think deeply about something rather than just bake pies - but it's a pretty lame list. I propose my own:
1) Read about Tau vs. Pi. The arguments for what we can choose in mathematics vs. what is given, require one to think quite a bit about what is useful in math vs. what is convention and makes one, frankly, appreciate pi far more than any of the activities in the article.
2) Actually try to measure pi. Note I didn't say, 'calculate'. It is revealing how hard it is to actually measure things in the real world beyond three or four significant figures, and it makes one appreciate the beauty of abstract calculations.
3) Read about e. e is actually much cooler in many ways, but because there is no ridiculuously simple, visualizable definition of it, it doesn't get the limelight (such as it is.) A great historical book on e: "e": The Story of a Number
But if you insist on knowing what the slideshow list of ten things is:
1) Make a pi-themed pie
2) Rock a Pi Day T-shirt
3) Write Pi-kus or Pi-ems
4) Go on a pi scavenger hunt (this, at least, has some vague mathematical attraction, although you could accomplish the same with a random sequence)
5) See how many digits of pi you can recite
6) Watch "Pi" the movie (gibberish math, but a cool movie that gets a little bit of the obsessional nature that can capture those who dive into abstract mathematics)
7) Listen to Pi music
8) Tell Pi Day jokes
9) Celebrate Albert Einstein's birthday (same day)
10) Read a book about pi (they don't even suggest the classic historical work on pi, by Beckman: A History of Pi
Like I said - mostly silly, not very mathematical. I would prefer pi day be a day of observance rather than a secular holiday :-)
...but April only has 30 days?!
(for those with a logical "day -> month" progression)
1337% of pi is 42
When I got home yesterday my daughter asked me "Will you help me make pumpkin pie if I go get the stuff for it?" I said "sure" because opportunities to hang out with my daughter are rare to be sure. So we're making pumpkin pie, well she is, I'm just there for moral support I guess.
I ask "So what is the pie for?"
She says "Tomorrow is pi day so I'm bringing pie to school"
I say "Oh, cool"
Inside I'm thinking "How the fuck did I get shit this right?"
signed,
stumbling into success
If someone asks when your birthday is, you tell them month/day. If they ask you when you were born you give them year/month/day in accordance with the idea that you are going from the general time frame to the more specific, bearing in mind that *just* the year doesn't give them your current age. Same with V-J day. If treated like a holiday (like your birthday), month/day is sufficient. If treated like an event (like your birth) then year/month/day is the way.
Basically in any case year/month/day omitting the unnecessary conveys information in a better order than month/day/year.
Also, Celsius is better than Fahrenheit because aside from at least being related to physical properties (if you're standing on an ocean beach, you could calibrate your Celsius thermometer right there), it also is translatable into Kelvin through simple subtraction. "Standard outdoor temperatures fall in the range 0-100" doesn't hold any weight with me -- even if I hadn't I've spent my entire life in places where that was not true. I mean, so what? Negative Fahrenheit doesn't mean anything other than "fucking cold". Negative Celcius means "There will be ice."
The enemies of Democracy are
At least for everyone in the world that prefers the "day/month/year" system over the dumb "month/day/year" one.
Also, 22/7 is a better approximation to the actual pi value than 3.14.
And... on that day I will, if all goes well, on vacation, so I'll be able to actually celebrate the day.
There.
"Trust me - I know what I'm doing."
- Sledge Hammer
That said- just about all countries have thier idiosyncracies... ... admittedly America has more than most.
Not more idiosyncracies; just less "syncracies"...
We certainly have a lot of other things that start with "idio-" though...