Yesterday we celebrated Pi Day. Pi, of course, is a mathematical constant used when dealing with circles. It is an irrational number, so the decimal numbers that follow the point never end and never repeat. The first twenty digits of pie are 3.1415926535897932384, but it could go on forever. Since the first numbers are 3.14, March 14 is a natural day to celebrate pi.
Michele organized a super-cool event. She had moms bring in pies and bottled water so everyone could have a piece of pie first thing in the morning. (Mmm… pie in the morning…) Then she staged a contest to see which kid could say the most digits of pi. I was blown away by how many they could learn. The winner was Michele’s own daughter. (Are weird minds genetic?) She knew over 200 digits. Criminy!
There was also a teacher contest. Carol wrote a song to memorize her digits. It scared everybody else away, but I couldn’t let her go unchallenged, so I quick studied the paper to see if I could store some numbers in my short term memory. It worked! I recited 27 digits. When Carol took her turn, she recited exactly 27 digits as well. It was a tie! I think Carol might have been able to recite more, but was being kind. It was fun to share the victory. I got a pie.
Eating pie and studing pi:
The contest:
.141592653589793
I still remember my 15 so I think that makes me the true winner. I would have studied more if I knew the competition was so limited amongst staff. I thought for sure there’d be a tough battle between all you teachers.
Way to go Michele!
Yes, Peggy, you are a true winner.
Ask Michele how many she knew…I didn’t even make the attempt…dyslexia runs my brain.
But it was a fun time; even if we were celebrating something to do with numbers.
I recommend eating pie at 8:30 AM everyday!
Pie?? For breakfast??? You should have invited Lauren with her tiny pies. Put her on the list for next year.
Cool. Our Michele the math teacher (Michele Metzger) celebrates PI day in her classes, but they’ve had to delay the celebration this year.
In my programming class we have “weekly annurisms” on Fridays (students get to pick strange problems from a list and have a week to do them). There’s a wide range of problems with a wide range of point values. They have to accumulate a certain number of ponits by the end of the semester. One of the problems is, “Memorize PI –1 point per dozen digits”
Mmmmmm…. pie for breakfast…
I am so telling Lloyd to copy this idea for next year! They can do that dumb cheer from college:
Pi! Pi! We love Pi!
Three point one four one five nine!
And I will make tiny pies, and put the winner’s pie in this:
http://www.whatonearthcatalog.com/whatonearth/Item_The-Pi-Dish_VC4603_ps_srm.html
Hey Friends – I want that pie plate! Don’t forget my birthday is coming up in July – hint, hint!
I was pleased to see that Brad stepped up for the challenge – we couldn’t let Carol think she had this one in the bag.
BTW – ask Brad just how many pieces of pie he had yesterday. THEN on top of that he ate two big homemade Rice Krispie treats last night at the talent show (that wasn’t his talent, but it sure grossed me out!)
You mean you don’t already HAVE it, Michele?! I seriously would hav gotten it by now for you/Melody/math department use but I somehow got the idea somebody had already given you one. Dnag it.
Too late for this year’s Easter basket, I suppose…?
A plate only a math teacher could love.
Thanks, Brad, but no being gracious here. If I could have snuck a peek at the 28th digit and slammed it in at the last minute, I would have. Amazingly, when I entered the cafeteria Friday morning, I only knew about 20 digits. Listening to our amazing, fantastic brain trust students recite pi over and over and over again helped me get the last 7 down within the half hour. Let’s see if I STILL know ‘em, though – after all, I am on The Other Side of the Hill and all:
3.14159265358979323846263383 (fuzzy toward the end there -somebody check me?)
Yup, there’s a life skill for ya’…my mind is FULL of useful tidbits like that. Like did you know the Union of South Africa (or so it was called in my high school years anyway) exports orange marmalade? Really useful info, eh?