Saturday, March 14, 2015

"Why Pi Matters"

"Pi does deserve a celebration, but for reasons that are rarely mentioned. In high school, we all learned that pi is about circles. Pi is the ratio of a circle’s circumference (the distance around the circle, represented by the letter C) to its diameter (the distance across the circle at its widest point, represented by the letter d). That ratio, which is about 3.14, also appears in the formula for the area inside the circle, A = πr2, where π is the Greek letter “pi” and r is the circle’s radius (the distance from center to rim). We memorized these and similar formulas for the S.A.T.s and then never again used them, unless we happened to go into a technical field, or until our own kids took geometry."
 

"So it’s fair to ask: Why do mathematicians care so much about pi? Is it some kind of weird circle fixation? Hardly. The beauty of pi, in part, is that it puts infinity within reach. Even young children get this. The digits of pi never end and never show a pattern. They go on forever, seemingly at random—except that they can’t possibly be random, because they embody the order inherent in a perfect circle. This tension between order and randomness is one of the most tantalizing aspects of pi." (read the whole thing)

8 comments:

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Like the universe.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Human beings derive meaning the way birds build nests.

For a certain variant of writer, that's stock in trade. Conformity.

They'll teach you how to do it at school, right along with math, if you'll let them.

john said...

The last, and only, bona fide pi day happened 423 years ago at 3:40 in the afternoon. It will never happen again. Let it go.

Titus said...

Pi is huge here, natch. There are lines everywhere for the Pie Stores.

I went to Petsis, in Cambridge, which is fab and I saw a woman who's nipple was resting on some cream in her coffee...cream in her coffee.

I stayed for a bit to watch her nipple convalescing with the cream and I got a little hard. You know what I am talking old unattrative asexual and unfuckable guys who could never actually get a girl?

What do you turds do for sex? Pay, fantisaze, porn, can't get it up,or just resigned to the fact no one will fuck you?

If I come to that day I will kill myself.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Here is Titus idea of fun... pocking a cyclist wheel and...

Synova said...

I did not make pie. Yet again, another Pi day happens and I am full of fail.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

In celebration, they made t-shirts and everything. I saw one today.

Aridog said...

The value of "Pi", both mathematically and purpose oriented, is a rather important concept for most skilled trades folk. You either learn it and how to utilize it in high school, or learn it in community college courses during your apprenticeship. Fail to grasp it and no Journeyman card for you....you are a semi-skilled day laborer.