3.14159265358979… 

Pi, denoted by π, is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.  

Today, 3/14, we celebrate Pi Day. This is because pi is often shortened to a 3-digit constant for easy calculations: 3.14. 

On this day, many celebrate by baking and eating various pies or reciting as many of the infinite numbers one can recite from the irrational number. 

Here are 11 fun facts about pi: 

1. A team of Swiss researchers computed pi to 62.8 trillion digits . . . in 108 days. 
2. Twenty-five-year-old Rajveer Meena holds the world record for most digits of pi memorized, reciting 70,000 digits of pi. His recitation took nine hours and seven minutes. 
3. In 1879, Albert Einstein was born on Pi Day. 
4. Pi Day was founded in 1988 by physicist Larry Shaw. 
5. In 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives formally named March 14 “Pi Day” to raise awareness of advances in the maths and sciences. 
6. Pi was originally a part of Egyptian mythology. People believe the Pyramids of Giza were built upon the principles of pi. The vertical height of the pyramids measures the same ratio to the base’s perimeter as the radius of a circle to the circumference. 
7. A form of writing was created surrounding pi. Forms known as “pi-kus” and “piems” are any poem written with words whose length matches the digits of pi: the first word having 3 letters, second- 1, third- 4, and so on… Mike Keith successfully wrote the book “Not a Wake” in pi-lish. ‘Not’ having 3 letters, ‘A’ having 1, ‘Wake’ 4. More information and examples of pi-lish can be found at https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160311-how-the-number-pi-inspired-a-writing-style 
8. The calculation of pi is used as a stress test for a computer. The use indicates the level of activity within the computer. 
9. Many mathematicians have said it would be more correct to say that a circle has an infinite number of corners rather than none. They believe the infinite number of corners relates to the definition of pi. 
10. A Babylonian tablet from as early as 1900 B.C. calculates pi as 3.125. The King James Bible also gives an approximation of pi in cubits (1 Kings 7:23) 
11. Pi is quite literally “divine”. By mathematical terms pi is “transcendental,” a number that can’t be the solution to any polynomial that has rational number coefficients. There is no finite root-finding formula used to calculate pi. 

Happy Pi Day!