To some March 14th is just another day closer to St. Patrick’s Day, but to many others, it is known as Pi Day, but not to the United States and math nerds everywhere! Pi Day is a fun holiday just because it is a goofy thing to celebrate, plus you get to each a bunch of pie, which is never a bad thing. So, why is Pi Day celebrated in the first place?
This “holiday” is the annual celebration of the constant of the mathematical term pi, and 3, 1, and 4 are the first significant digits. This day is fairly unique to the United States because we use the date format of month, day, and then the year.
The first large-scale celebration of the day was in 1988, which was organized by physicist Larry Shaw at the San Francisco Exploratorium. The U.S. House of Representatives officially recognized March 14th as National Pi Day back in 2009. It’s become such a hit in the academic community that the Massachusetts Institue of Technology has actually taken to mailing their application decision letters to prospective students on Pi Day.
Princeton, New Jersey plays host to many events combining the celebrations of Pi Day and Albert Einstein’s birthday (also on March 14th.) Einstein actually lived in Princeton for over twenty years, hence the celebrations.
Sure, Pi Day doesn’t sound the most exciting holiday in the world but it sure leaves the door open for plenty of funny pi/pie jokes.There are plenty of ways to celebrate Pi Day, and looking at the best collection of memes is definitely one of them.
