Happy Pi Day!

I’m having a nerdgasm, for today is Pi Day!

You may think π is just some thing you learned about circles way back in high school algebra. However, π is a tool the Ancient One used to craft this whole crazy thing we call Objective Reality, much like a carpenter uses various tools to build, say, a house. I liken π to a nail, because just as, in a house, you’ll find nails holding the 2x4 framework together, holding the sheetrock onto the framework, the shingles on the roof, the window frames, the stairs, you name it, π pops up all over the place in the physical universe. Not only in the inherent traits of circles and spheres, but in

- Einstein’s cosmological constant of General Relativity
- Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle of Quantum Mechanics
- Coulomb’s law describing the electric force
- the permeability of magnetism in free space
- numerous probability and statistical functions that are beyond me
- Kepler’s Third Law of planetary motion
- Euler’s Identity (a.k.a. the most beautiful equation in mathematics)

to name but a few.

Tradition in the LE household on Pi Day is to memorize out to 20 digits. Well, let me rephrase that. On Pi Day LE memorizes π while the wife and children make fun of him. But no matter, my inner nerd cannot be contained on March 14th! And the reason why it’s an annual event is because I memorize out twenty digits, remember it for a day or two, then promptly forget it.

3.14159 26535 89793 23846 ...

As you may or may not know, π is an irrational and transcendental number. This means it cannot be expressed as a fraction or as the solution to an algebraic equations. Practically, that means that the numbers to the right of the decimal go on and on and on and, presumably, will never cease doing so. π has been calculated out to over a trillion digits via supercomputers (although only 700 or so digits via the human mind and pencil and paper, done in the late 19th century).

No pattern has been detected within those trillion digits. I have heard that Carl Sagan postulated a deep coded message within π in his novel Contact. I read the book in the mid-90s but don’t remember much about that. It is a neat idea, though.

Well, I know you were sleeping through it this morning, so when 3:14 rolls around this afternoon, join me in a celebratory piece of pie, okay?