Pi Day 2023: To commemorate the day, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is fielding a series of scientific and technical questions related to several of the agency’s Earth and space missions. The mathematical constant π is often abbreviated as 3.14 and thus Pi Day is celebrated on March 14. Therefore, to commemorate the occasion, the office participates in STEM at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA in Southern California has released a quartet of illustrated science and engineering questions based on NASA missions, including the upcoming Lunar Flashlight and SWOT (Ocean and Surface Topography) missions, along with InSight and TESS, is the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite.
Pi Day is celebrated every year on March 14. This day not only celebrates a very special number but also celebrates the birthday of great scientist and mathematician Albert Einstein. Join us to learn more about the Pi symbol and Pi Day through this article.
Take a look at some of the tweets to witness the celebrations around the world:
Teacher: Celebrate #PiDay in your classroom!
Challenge your students to use pi to solve some of the same problems our scientists and engineers encounter when exploring other worlds. Answers available March 15. Cut to ours #NASAPiDayChallenge: https://t.co/07d3us4Whh pic.twitter.com/RUaLVUrjM5
– NASA (@NASA)
March 10, 2023
This March 14th is called Pi (π) day. Mainly because the value of Pi is 3.14 (3/14). That’s also the day #AlbertEinstein born in 1879. Today is also the death anniversary of #StephenHawking. 😢🙏🏻 #PiDay pic.twitter.com/K5ZfkUT1LG
— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@Rajeev_GoI)
March 14, 2023
A recent thought experiment found that the event horizon of black holes “observes” the universe like an all-seeing cosmic eye, and thus collapses quantum states . Not everyone believes in this idea. @thomaslewton report to @QuantaMagazine:https://t.co/5TIwfZnZtQ
– Albert Einstein (@AlbertEinstein)
March 13, 2023
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What is Pi?
In Mathematics Pi (π) is a constant number and is the ratio between the circumference of a circle and its diameter. That is for any size of the circle, the value of Pi will be the same. Diameter is the distance of a circle from one edge to another and circumference of a circle is the distance around. Pi is a constant number approximately equal to 3.14 or 22/7 and is represented by the Greek letter π.
Did you know that Pi is an irrational number, meaning it is a real number that cannot be expressed as a simple fraction? According to mathematicians, pi is also known as an infinite decimal, meaning that after the decimal point, the digits last forever.
Pi Day: History
On March 14, 1988, the first official large-scale celebration took place at the San Francisco Exploratorium. The event was organized by physicist Larry Shaw. Did you know that some participants marched around a circle during this celebration and ate fruit pies? As the years passed, it gained popularity and finally, the US House of Representatives passed HRES 224 on March 12, 2009, recognizing March 14 as Pi Day.
To approximate circles, mathematician Archimedes used polygons with many sides and determined the number Pi to be approximately 22/7. In 1706, the Greek symbol π was first used by William Jones. Did you know that the letter ‘p’ was chosen for the ‘circumference’ of circles and thus the number π became popular and was adopted by Swiss mathematician Leonard Euler in 1737?
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Pi Day: Celebration
On this day, various celebrations take place around the world with some activities such as people reciting the number Pi and seeing who can go the farthest. At the Museum and Science centers, educational programs, music, pi memorization challenges and math fans celebrate the day by enjoying a piece of cake. The joy of arithmetic sometimes also comes with delicious foods such as pizza, fruit cake, etc. As we know, pi is used in formulas in mathematics and physics.
Some interesting facts about Pi
– Pi is an irrational number, so you cannot calculate Pi by dividing an integer by any other number.
– Pi is a number that never ends and never repeats.
– Because the value of Pi never ends, we cannot find the true circumference or area of a circle.
– In the Greek alphabet, Pi is the sixteenth letter and in English also p is the sixteenth letter.
– Pi is the ratio between the circumference of a circle and its diameter.
– In the 19th century, William Shanks calculated the first 707 digits of Pi by hand but unfortunately he made a mistake after the 527th position.
– A Japanese scientist, breaking all previous records, with the help of Hitachi SR 8000, a powerful computer, found 1.24 trillion digits of Pi.
– Pi is mentioned in the Bible.
– In ancient times, Archimedes was the first person to research Pi.
– Albert Einstein was born on Pi day.
– There is no zero in the first 31 digits of Pi.
– There are many other names for Pi such as Ludolph’s Number, Archimedes’ constant, circular constant, etc
– In 1706, William Jones introduced the Pi symbol which was popularized by Leonhard Euler in 1737.
Since 2009, Pi Day has been recognized as a national holiday. The annual celebration of the mathematical symbol pi takes place on March 14. March 14 was chosen by physicist Larry Shaw as its founding day in 1988 because it was Albert Einstein’s birthday and number day ( 3.14) represents the first three digits of pi.
GK Questions and Answers About the Mathematical Symbol Pi
Source: history.com, piday.org
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