Wednesday, March 1, 2023

National Pi Day, March 14:

By Ann Chaney

What’s not to love about a day where you can celebrate by eating pie?

March 14 is the US national day of observance for the mathematical computations of Pi which  is 3.14 in its simplest form.  I know Pi Day sounds a little nerdy. For me, I find enjoyment in celebrating the day by indulging my sugar cravings without feeling guilty for one day of the year is a win-win for me.

How did this day come about? March 12, 2019, The US House of Representatives passed a resolution recognizing March 14th as National Pie Day. I think it’s rather cute to use homophones Pi/Pie. No doubt bakeries are big fans of the day too. I mean really, how often do most people buy or make a pie?

In honor of all you mathematicians, may I offer the following facts:

 *Rajeev Meena at VIT University, Vellore, India, created a record by narrating a maximum number of digits of Pi. On 21 March 2015, he set a record for stating almost 70,000 decimal places of pi. The process took almost ten hours.

*The principle of Pi was used to construct the Pyramids of Ghiza!


*There even exists a language of Pi known as the Pi-lish language. In this dialect, each word has a number of alphabets corresponding to the digits of Pi.


*The calculation of Pi is used as a stress test for computers!


*Ludolph Van Ceulen, a Dutch-German scientist, spent most of his life calculating the value of Pi. The value of Pi up to 36 places were later engraved in his tombstone.

 

Albert Einstein’s birthday is on March 14.

March is a weird month for celebrations. First is Pi Day on the 14th, then Ides of March on the 15th then St. Patrick’s Day on the 17th. You can have pie on Tuesday, hold a wake for Julius Caesar on Wednesday, and celebrate with green beer on Friday! Not bad for a month without a federal holiday.

When I’ve lived in places further north than my present home in Central Florida, I’ve loved the first day of March. Yeah, I know the old saying “in like a lion, out like a lamb” or vice versa. I’m an eternal optimist.

So in the words of Forrest Gump’s buddy, Bubba Blue, “There’s apple pie, cherry pie, pecan pie, chocolate pie, lemon meringue pie, pumpkin pie, grape hull pie, coconut pie, banana cream pie, and many more pies to taste on March 14.

My favorite pie is the one on the plate in front of me. What your favorite pie?

8 comments:

Diana McCollum said...

Hi Robin,

I love pie! We don't buy it often as the kids are grown and just me and hubby home to eat it.

He loves lemon meringue pie and I love Pecan! I used to make pecan pie but haven't for years!

What's your favorite pie?

Sarah Raplee said...

Fun post, Ann!

My favorite pie is pumpkin. I have to make it at home because I can't have gluten or dairy. Guess it's time to dig our the recipe!

Anonymous said...

Love the post, Ann.

Anonymous said...

Hi Diana, my fave is cherry pie with ice cream.

Anonymous said...

So Sarah my husband John makes a cream cheese pumpkin pie with our granddaughters. First time our now almost 10 year old turned the Kitchenaid on high and sprayed pumpkin all over the kitchen. I found them both covered in pumpkin mixture with then 5 year old say “Pops did it!”

Judith Ashley said...

Chocolate Cream Pie with Whipped Cream would be #1 although I love Cherry Pie with ice cream (do not heat the pie!). I'd rather have pie than cake and my mom finally believed me when I was 12 and from then on, she'd make me a chocolate pudding pie and make the pudding from scratch. I've no idea what a grape hull pie is...I've had all those listed except that one. And yes, there are many more pies out there to taste. I won't indulge on 03/14 because I Really Indulged during my birthday celebration in November/December (I celebrate one day for every year).

Lorraine said...

As a math teacher we love Pi day! Great blog!

Diana McCollum said...

Ann,
I apologize for calling you Robin! I see now Robin is the one who put your blog up.

Diana