March 14th, 3/14, is known by some as Pi Day but it may not be the type of pie that you’re thinking about.
But, it’s not what’s in the pie that’s important today, it’s the shape of a pie. Of course, this is a circle, but Pi is the approximate ratio of the circumference of a circle over the diameter.
Pi can be used to calculate the volume and surface area of cylinders, spheres, and cones, and the radius, circumference, diameter, and area of a circle.
Pi is an irrational number which means Pi never ends. Scientists who have a lot of time on their hands have calculated Pi to 31.4 trillion digits
These calculations are just one piece of the pie that engineers use to keep everyday things usable for us.
As you can see there’s a lot of mathematical significance in the shape of this wheel which is a circle. A lot of that has to do with the symbol Pi. However, it is 3/14, which is a good excuse to go home and have a piece of pie for dessert.
The concept of PI has been around for thousands of years and is also used in astronomy, statistics, physics, and architecture.
Reporting by Carson Vickroy for MTN News
