March 14-Pi day

Source-This post on March 14-Pi day is based on the article “Pi Day: Behind the world’s most famous mathematical constant” published in “The Indian Express” on 14th March 2024.

Why in the News?

March 14 is celebrated worldwide as Pi Day, commemorating the well-known approximation (3.14) of the mathematical constant Pi. On Pi Day, mathematicians raise awareness about their field through lectures, museum exhibits, and pie-eating contests

Why March 14?

1. The value of Pi is approximately 3.14 or expressed as the fraction 22/7.

2. When the date is written in the month/day format (3/14), it corresponds to the first three digits of this mathematical constant.

History of its celebration

1. Physicist Larry Shaw marked the first Pi Day celebration in 1988 at the San Francisco Exploratorium.

2. In 2009, The U.S. House of Representatives designates March 14 (3/14) as National Pi Day.

3. In 2019, UNESCO’s 40th General Conference officially recognized Pi Day as the International Day of Mathematics.

What is Pi (π)?

1. Pi, often denoted by the Greek letter π, is a well-known mathematical constant.

2. It signifies the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, which remains constant regardless of the circle’s size.

3. Pi is an irrational number, meaning it has an infinite decimal expansion without any repeating pattern.

Discovery of Pi

1. Pi has been known for nearly 4,000 years and was discovered by the ancient Babylonians and ancient Egyptians.

2. Greek mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse (287 B.C. to 212 B.C.) was among the earliest to calculate pi.

3. The mathematical constant pi is represented by the symbol ‘π,’ which was created by British mathematician William Jones in 1706.

Applications: Pi finds utility in a broad array of mathematical and scientific computations, encompassing fields such as geometry, trigonometry, calculus, and beyond.

UPSC Syllabus- Miscellaneous