Today is International Pi Day: Pi - mathematical figure that continues to amaze

International Pi Day is celebrated on March 14 because the date stands as 3/14 in the month/day format. Since 3, 1, and 4 are the first three significant digits of pi, the day is observed as Pi Day.

Gaurav Bhandari

International Pi Day is celebrated on March 14 because the date stands as 3/14 in the month/day format. Since 3, 1, and 4 are the first three significant digits of π, the day is observed as Pi Day.

Pi Day is celebrated around the world. Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159. Pi Day is an annual opportunity for math enthusiasts to recite the infinite digits of Pi, talk to their friends about math, and to eat pie.

Since 1988, Pi Day has been celebrated at the San Francisco Exploratorium. It was first organized on a large scale by Larry Shaw who used to work as a physicist there. He celebrated the day with the staff and public marching around one of its circular spaces, then consuming fruit pies. The Exploratorium continues to hold Pi Day celebrations till date. People all around the world celebrate Pi Day by indulging in various activities. Many organise cake baking competitions, others give each other the fun challenge of memorizing the digits of Pi after the decimal point and by computationally calculating more and more digits. Schools and educational organisations also observe this day by playing fun games that include the value of Pi.

In India, every year many organisations arrange competitions to memorize the value of Pi upto maximum limits. There are also some tricks to learn the value of Pi to certain limits like ''May I have a large container of coffee, cream and sugar?' In this line, convert letters into numbers and you will get Pi value upto 10 decimal points i.e. 3.1415926535.

I am also in the mission to memorise the Pie value and had created the world record in memorizing and typing the value of Pi upto 4500 decimal places at Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruh, Aurangabad on January 28, 2015.

(The writer, popularly known as Human Computer, holds six World Records in Mathematics).