Saturday, March 14, 2015
Pi Day of the Century: 3-14-15
Pi day is an American thing, countries that list the date before the month will never have one, and this one is the special, once-in-a-century time when the month, day and year contain the first 5 significant digits of pi. It's virtually a dead lock bet that nobody reading this today will be alive to see the next one, unless some medical miracles occur.
I read the book around 30 years ago. I recall it was pretty interesting history, written with less of a dry and dusty tone than you might think. The author fled the communist Czechoslovakia to the US and has a distinct anti-authoritarian tone.
My kids were required to read "The Story of Pi". Imagine my disappointment when I discovered that there was no math.
ReplyDelete355/113 is close enough for government work.
ReplyDeleteWe definitely had pi that day.
ReplyDeleteOne of my daughters is fascinated by pi and has memorized it out beyond a hundred decimals. Sadly, that's the only math she remembers.
A History of Pi by Petr Beckmann, 1976?
ReplyDeleteAnon 3/16 1638 - yes, pretty sure that was the edition. I read it in the late '80s, though.
ReplyDelete