Topics: Weird & Humorous, General, Mathematics, Geek Culture, Nerdvana

I was going to post this entry on March 14^th, the "official" (in the US) Pi Day but things have been hectic and I didn't want to wait for the European Pi Day.

"What?," some readers might say, "Isn't Pi the same around the world?"
Ah, the value of Pi, π, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, is the same, but the date conventions are different.

In the States, with the common month/date/year convention, March 14th could be rendered 3.14. If one wants to take Pi out to more decimal places, one could break out the champagne at 13:59:26 on March 14 to celebrate 3.1415926 as the Pi Second.

In Europe, with the date/month/year convention, it would be 14.3 and that would not make sense. (And they say Pi is an "irrational" number!) So what do Europeans and others with the date/month convention do for a Pi Day? It turns out there are several Pi Approximation Days, and July 22^nd will work as 22/7.

Confused?
Here's some information about Pi Day from other and, perhaps, more eloquent sources:

• Wikipedia on Pi Day
• The Official March 14^th Pi Day Site
• Wiki-How to Celebrate Pi Day
• NPR - "Happy Pi Day from the Pi Guy" programme where you can hear Marc Umile, the North American record-holder of memorising the digits of pi, talk and partially recite Pi.
  

"Bye, bye, Miss American Pi...
Drove my Chevy to the radii..."
J.D. "running in circles" Abolins