Stephen HollyPi Day, a commemoration of the mathematical sign pi, is observed every March 14 by mathematicians, scientists, and math fans all over the world.
The first three digits of the never-ending number match the date represented numerically as 3/14: 3.14
The unusual festival is covered by math teachers in schools across the country, and bakeries and supermarket stores frequently provide discounts on pies on that day.
Pi Day was initially observed in 1988 at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, a science and technology museum that encourages visitors to participate in hands-on activities.
Larry Shaw, a physicist who had worked at the museum for more than 15 years, invented the holiday.
Sara Shaw, his daughter, told ABC News that her father came up with the idea to link March 14 with pi’s first three digits while on a weekend work retreat.
“He had a habit of combining wild, amusing concepts with science and math,” she explained. “It’s a celebration and a gathering of everyone to enjoy something scientifically based but presented in a fun, informative manner.”
“It’s both fun and science,” Sara Shaw remarked, “and those things aren’t mutually exclusive.”
Pi Day was born as a result. Because pi is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, the Exploratorium’s employees marched around one of the museum’s circular spaces during the initial celebration.
Shaw and his wife set up fruit pies for the workers to eat after the march, which took place at exactly 1:59 p.m., which are the numbers that follow 3.14 in pi.
Sara Shaw recalled that for the first few years, the celebrations were limited, including mainly museum employees and a few guests.
“They used to be quite little,” she explained, “so my memories of them are only around 10 people, and then it grew bigger and bigger.” “I went away to college, and when I returned, it had progressed significantly.”
Sara Shaw, too, took part in the festivities, but she has no recollection of doing so.
Her parents told her that she was in primary school when she realized March 14 was also Albert Einstein’s birthday, some years after the first Pi Day.
Shaw created the “Pi Shrine,” a circular plaque within one of the museum’s circular classrooms, for the next Pi Day.
According to the Exploratorium’s website, the staff then completed the traditional march around the museum, concluding at the Pi Shrine, which was encircled 3.14 times before “Happy Birthday” was sung to Einstein.
The festival has gained such acclaim that the United States House of Representatives declared March 14 as Pi Day in March 2009.
“I think he was ecstatic that [the day] grew and grew from a little and humble beginning,” Sara added.
The Exploratorium’s Pi Day has become an annual tradition, and the team has continued it even after Shaw’s death in 2017.
“Pi Day is such a significant event for the Exploratorium,” said Samuel Sharkland, the museum’s program developer. “It began as a team meeting, and the fact that it has evolved into an international celebration testifies to its allure and appeal.”
He went on to say, “Math can be scary at times. But there’s a lot to discover when you have a captivating number like pi.”
So, why is pi regarded as such a significant symbol?
For ages, scientists had known that the circumference and diameter of a circle had the same exact ratio regardless of its size, but they couldn’t figure out how to calculate it.
Chinese and Indian scientists contributed significantly to the study of pi during the next several years, adding more digits, and scientists are still seeking to learn more digits of pi to this day.
Pi, on the other hand, has relevance outside of mathematics. It’s been used to compute the orbits of planets in the solar system and investigate how energy is carried by river ripples.
This year marks the Exploratorium’s 35th annual Pi Day celebration, and it is the first time the museum has been able to host the event in person since 2019 due to the epidemic.
In addition to the parade, food, and music, Sharkland said the museum has invited John Sims, a math artist, to be a resident artist at the museum, curating poems for Pi Day and other works of art. The museum will have Sims’ work on exhibit until March 31.
He explained, “What Larry Shaw was capable to do was develop a culture around π.” “It is critical that people feel linked to the world around them. The more individuals can embrace the fun of mathematics through festivities like pie or talking about your pizza pie portions, the closer they will feel linked.”
