Cherry pie for Pi Day, March 14th. (You know, 3.14)
So, I thought I'd get a post up in time for Pi Day, but
I am late. Of course, Pi goes on forever, is eternal,
and irrational, so I think being a week late is okay.
Pi. Pi is magical. Honestly, it is. It translates between
dimensions; distance, area, volume. Pi does it all.
And yet, when I ask the 6th graders I know "What is Pi?"
They tell me, "3.14". When pushed, they say, "It goes on forever."
I get shrugs when I ask "Where does it come from, what
does it mean?" "It's a constant." Is the best answer I get.
I would be lying if I said this didn't hurt my heart just a bit.
So here is what I want them to know.
Pi is a wonder of the universe. What does constant mean?
It means that all circles follow a rule. One rule to govern
them all, and in the darkness bind them.
Pi is a ratio. It is the number of times the distance across
a circle (the diameter) can wrap around the outside
of the circle (the circumference). You could find this
measurement on your own, with a piece of string. It's
a physical thing, a real touchable thing. It is simple,
but profound, because it is true for every circle.
Pi is history. It is practical and an object of obession.
Ancient Babylonians and Egyptians knew of Pi
through physical experiments (hello string).
Archimedes (he who could move worlds) worked out
the first mathematical approach to Pi, which began
an endless obsession by mathematicans with the
irrational number. Is a million numbers in Pi enough?
No, they keep expanding the decimal.
Pi can catch the imagination, and make mathematics
come alive. It makes so much possible with
just one piece of information: 3 dimensions of a
circle, with just the radius. It can make a person fall
in love with problem solving.
Is Pi Day just a gimmick? A chance to eat pie?
I think it is what we need to inspire our children.
It is a chance to talk math with your child,
and make them think beyond the numbers, beyond "3.14" .