Happy ?-day, everybody! If you thought Saturday was just another day in an endless string of days, you may have missed out on a great, commercially-untainted holiday. We know how rare those are.
To many, ? is just another number that arouses irrational fear and repressed memories of middle school math teachers. To others, ? is just 3.14 (looking at you, Zachry). Regardless of personal persuasions, society’s steady immersion into a technology-driven world and collective nerd-dom is starting to bring a universal appreciation for the ubiquitous ?.
What better day to express that appreciation than March 14, or 3/14. Pi, in case anyone has forgotten, is a number that, in attempting to capture it on paper, would have you scribbling forever. Many of us just agree to say ? is 3.14159 and keep the rest hush-hush.
A number accused of being irrational by most mathematicians, ? is one of life’s indispensable mysteries. Humanity first encountered it attempting to describe the circle, and it was eventually explained as the ratio between a circle’s circumference to its diameter. Many ancient works, in one way or another, either reference or attempt to calculate ?, demonstrating a long history of pi-philia.
Lots of “boring” math later, ? has found a way of creeping into every aspect of our lives. It is found in every technical branch of science and has become a fascinating testament to our ability to create whilst not fully knowing the numbers being used. Pi can be found in the most surprising places, including construction, biology and even cosmology. You can also find it inside the foxhole where imaginary objects run rampant, thanks to Euler and his ability to identify himself.
Ultimately, ? stands as a symbol for humanity’s appreciation and utilization of science. It is a constant reminder that we may not know everything, or all the digits to everything, but we can still make and change our realities. We may never know exactly what ? is, but with cars zipping through traffic, buildings scraping the sky and medicine curing the sick, one wouldn’t imagine that to be a major problem.
Our monumental abilities to move the earth using zero percent of ?’s digits aren’t enough to satisfy our curiosity. To this day, millennia after we began to understand ?, we set our biggest and brightest computers to the task of computing ?, reaching 1.24 trillion decimal places in 2005. That’s like getting 2 million decimal places every day, starting from the day Jesus was born. See, American Issues Project? I can do it, too.
It’s clear to see that a number as unique as ? would gather quite a bit of fascination. The holiday has steadily become a staple of the technically inclined, but is quickly becoming an appreciated day. Pi-day gives us a chance to reflect on how ? has changed our world, and perhaps more importantly, make some great puns and pies. If you’re feeling more imaginative and find yourself inspired to do something a bit more complicated, you’re only being true to the spirit of ?. However, try to stay away from resurrecting the 1897 Indiana Pi Bill, which sought to politically establish 3.15 as a very wrong value for ? – that’s a little too creative.
Take time this ?-day to reflect on how the never-ending number plays into your life. In a year replete with meaningless holidays and asinine celebrations, it only makes sense to celebrate one of the more mysterious and influential aspects of life as well. Happy ?-day, everybody.