Today (14 March) is celebrated,especially amongst science people, for two marvellous reasons! 14 March is both birthday of Albert Einstein and 3.14 Pi Day. And 3/14/15 is the perfect Pi Day that happens only once in 1000 years.
While there is too much to say about Mr. Einstein today, in the spirit of Pi Day, we will look at the facts about the majestic number Pi.
1. What is Pi?
It is actually the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter (approximately 3.14159).
2. No easy passwords allowed
In the first million digits of pi, there are no occurrences of the sequence 123456. This makes Pi Day one million times more special than any other sequential date.
3. Never-ending digits
Pi has more than 12 trillion known digits! In fact the exact number of known digits as of 2013 is 12,100,000,000,050 and the last digit is 5.
That would take probably a million years to recite without stopping, maybe a few years less for a badass machine gun rapper.
4. Where is that symbol coming from?
The symbol pi has only been used in a mathematical sense since the mid-18th century. π is the Greek symbol for the letter “p.” It was taken from the Greek word for “perimeter.”
Swiss mathematician and physicist Leonhard Euler is credited for popularizing the use of the symbol.
5. Who discovered Pi first?
No one knows exactly but it is probably around for a longer time than you think.
For example, The Great Pyramid of Giza, which was built back in 2500 BC, has a perimeter of 1760 cubits and a height of 280 cubits. Ratio is approximately twice pi, and doesn’t look like a coincidence.
6. Spock and his best friend Pi
In the Star Trek episode “Wolf in the Fold,” Spock fools the evil computer by commanding it to “compute to last digit the value of pi.”
7. Everything is in the Pi!
When you write it long enough, you’ll find every possible combination in Pi. You birthdate, special dates on history, your name and address even a book (when transformed into letters from numbers).
8. Pi has its own music
And it sounds beautiful
So, go out get a pi and celebrate this great day 🙂