Nothing like a good Pi
It was Pi Day this week. March 14 or 3/14 has been adopted as Pi Day. Pi of course is that irrational number you get when you divide a circle’s circumference by its diameter. No matter what those two rational numbers are, you will always get the irrational 3.14159………. and it never ends.
Why we business people care is elaborated on below.
In my youth I committed those six numbers, 3.14159 to memory. Amazingly Rajveer Meena at VIT University, Vellore, India on 21 March 2015 was able to recite 70,000 decimal places (It took him nearly 10 hours). As far as assisted calculations, in 2017 a Swiss scientist computed more than 22 trillion digits of pi. The calculation took over a hundred days.
The number pi is integral to our understanding of geometry. Pi has uses in physics, astronomy, and mathematics. Pi is used in architecture and construction as well and has been a vital part of everything from arches and bridges to the Pyramids of Giza.
For its origin, ancient mathematicians worked the challenge of constructing a square with the same area as a given circle by using only a finite number of steps with compass and straightedge. Not until 1882, was the task officially proven to be impossible. It was then they proved that pi (π) is a transcendental. The expression “squaring the circle” is sometimes used as a metaphor for trying to do the impossible
Perhaps coincidence, perhaps not, Albert Einstein was born on March 14th, 1879.
I point all this out because I spent my youth in accelerated math classes middle school through high school. I eventually went into engineering and now am a business owner of a successful manufacturing company.
Today, math is struggling.
Brainly, an online homework community, surveyed American students about their feelings towards math. When asked about their favorite subject in school, 26 percent of students rated Math #1, followed by Science, English and Social Studies or History. As far as the mathematical formula for Pi, 55 percent felt they could identify the first five digits. Only 30 percent knew that pi is defined as the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.
We need to make math cool again. WHY? Math teaches problem solving skills, and problem solving is what ALL employers are looking for these days. Always doing things the same way is old school. We want to continually improve. And improvement comes from problem solving.
Oh, and if you want to give your smart guy a gift, Givenchy sells a men’s cologne with the name ‘Pi’. The company markets this product as capable of enhancing the attractiveness of intelligent and visionary men.