Today, Sunday, March 14, is Pi Day, the day when mathematicians worldwide celebrate one of the most important mathematical constants. Following Pi Day, today we also celebrate International Mathematics Day.
According to the American date notation, we write March 14 as 3/14 and that date refers to the beginning of the decimal notation of pi, namely 3.141592653… That was enough reason in 1988 for the American physicist Larry Shaw of the San Francisco Exploratorium to propose Pi Day to be born. On this day, the scientist wanted to “celebrate the fabulous mathematical constants in the world.”
The number pi is a mathematical constant that represents the relationship between the circumference and diameter of a circle. Pi is calculated by dividing the circumference of a circle by its diameter. This value is the same for every circle and that constant was given the name pi.
Because the name Pi Day also contains the sound of the English word for cake, cake is also eaten or thrown by the revelers on this day. In addition, competitions are also organized in which participants are invited to list as many decimals of pi as possible. Pi has now been calculated to trillions of decimal places using supercomputers.
Following Pi Day, March 14 was declared International Mathematics Day by UNESCO in 2019. On this day, mathematics and its influence on daily life are brought to the attention.