How Canada's geek capital is marking Super Pi Day
Every year, math and physics enthusiasts gather to celebrate math and eat baked goods (yes, like pie) on March 14, otherwise known as Pi Day. That's because under the month/day calendar, March 14 is recorded as 3/14 - the first three digits of the constant Pi.
Pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. It is usually expressed for simplicity's sake in decimal form as 3.14, or sometimes as 3.14159. But because it is an irrational number, Pi can be solved to 10 trillion digits. It just keeps going without settling into a repeating pattern.
This year, it's even better – Saturday March 14 is Super Pi Day. Why? Under the month/day/year calendar, it's 3/14/15 - the first five digits of pi. And at 9:26:53 a.m. on March 14, the first ten digits of Pi will be represented: 3.141592653.
So enjoy this video created by the Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics in Waterloo – a city with a reputation for engineering and technological excellence that also happens to be a destination for overachieving geeks – and help yourself to a slice of pie.