Pi Day 2023: Know History, Significance, Theme & How This Day Is Celebrated

Globally, March 14 is celebrated as Pi Day through Pi recital competitions and Pi Day workouts to generate interest in learning and practising mathematics

In 2019, the UNESCO in its 40th General Conference proclaimed Pi Day as International Mathematics Day.

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Globally, March 14 is celebrated as Pi Day to recognise the famous mathematical constant. It is because if you write the day in the month/day format then it looks like 3/14. Pi's approximate value is 3.14. Mathematically, Pi is the ratio between the circumference and diameter of a circle, approximately equal to 3.14.  It plays an important constant in finding out the area of a circle.

In 2019, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in its 40th General Conference proclaimed Pi Day as International Mathematics Day.

Interestingly, the day also coincides with Mathematician and Physicist Albert Einstein's birthday. He was born on Pi Day in 1879. In fact, renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking passed away on this day in 2018.

Theme

The theme for Pi Day 2023 is "Mathematics for Everyone", proposed by Marco Zarco Rotairo from Philippines' Trece Martires City National High School, as per the official website of the celebration.

History

Pi day was recognised in 1988 by physicist Larry Shaw after he organised a large-scale celebration at the San Francisco Exploratorium in the United States. The celebrations were marked by cutting a Pi-shaped pie, and the recitation of the value of pi to as many decimal places as possible. The value of Pi was first calculated by a mathematician named Archimedes of Syracuse. It was later accepted by the scientific community when Leonhard Euler used the symbol of Pi in 1737.

March 14 is also celebrated as the ‘Super Pi day' when the first 10 digits of Pi were achieved at 9:26:53 am in 2015 forming the exact moment along with the date as (3/14/15/92653).

Know the significance of the day

Known as an irrational and transcendental number, Pi means that its decimal representation never ends and never repeats. As the exact value cannot be known, we can never find the exact area or circumference of a circle.

Egyptian people believed that the pyramids of Giza have been constructed on the principles of pi. The ratio between the height of the pyramids and the perimeter of their base is the same as that between a circle's radius and circumference.

How is Pi Day celebrated?

The day is observed globally every year through Pi recital competitions and Pi Day workouts to stimulate interest in learning and practising mathematics.