Pi Day: 3.14.15

This year we celebrated Pi Day on 3.14.15, paying homage to that mysterious number that has made so many things possible. To be absolutely honest, it was  partly an excuse to throw a party, but it helped that Salt and I both think math is interesting. Yes, I used the words "interesting" and "math" in the same sentence.

As a schoolgirl I was always dubious when one of my classmates would pronounce some aspect of math as useless for anything but theoretical applications, though they usually expressed themselves less elegantly, "Why do I need to know this? I'm never going to use it." My skepticism at these proclamations and the recalcitrance of my bored classmates both proved to be self-fulfilling prophesies, as I've found that whether or not one uses math outside of a classroom is largely a matter of choice. I know plenty of people who will add and subtract on calculators and guess at the rest of the math problems that face them on a daily basis. Some people are very good at guessing too, and I suspect those people have undiscovered genius in mathematical theory.

I don't care too much for theorizing in mathematics, I just like to solve the problems.  Almost every day, I ask myself "What if..." and start calculating in my head. One time I read about a train accident in the newspaper and realized the article gave all of the information necessary to calculate the force with which the train struck. After a moment of silence for the victims of the accident, I did the calculation. I can't say the answer was illuminating, because to this day I still don't really know what a Newton of force is capable of doing, but most people (especially calculator devotees) will forgive my ignorance when the conversation turns to space launches and accidentally dropping stemware.

My use of mathematics on a daily basis is more than anecdotal. I'd rather add long columns on paper than search for a calculator.When I'm making the long pilgrimage to my hometown through hundreds of miles of grassland, I spend most of the trip calculating and recalculating my arrival time at various points along the trip. I rarely call my bank if I want to get an amortization, because it's more fun to build a spreadsheet of my own that I can use to play with different payment methods. Salt will tell you that I'm addicted to budgeting; not following a budget, rather calculating budgets. I really love spread sheets with complicated algorithms and logic strings.  

Knowing this about me, it should come as no surprise that I also measure and calculate for our mini-farm projects as well.  How many cubic feet of fill do I need for the raised beds? If one side of the case is 36-inches long on the outside, how long should the lengths of the interior supports be? Although I have far more applications for the Pythagorean Theorem for calculating the length of the hypotenuse of a triangle to make sure the brackets I'm cutting will fit under the shelves, sometimes it even comes in handy to know how to calculate the area of a circle... enter Pi (π).  In case you were sleeping in Geometry class, it's the ratio of the diameter (D) of a circle to its circumference (C). It's a constant, which makes it possible to measure circles, but it's also an irrational number with no apparent end ...a mathematical mystery?

My mother who majored in Mathematics has been greatly amused at the state legislative attempts to truncate Pi's value to an even 3. Some legislatures are particularly keen on legislating science to conform with a simpler understanding of the world, so it makes sense they would care less about accuracy and more about not having to recall as many as seven digits. Note that when calculating the circumference of a circle (C = πD) using a truncated Pi, the truncation would cause the calculation of the circumference to come up a bit short. This hardly matters in the world of just wanting to get the answer right for the test, but in practical applications it means air must be let out of tires and product designers have to go out of state to obtain round parts that fit. I don't know what the fine is for adding a couple of digits to Pi for calculation purposes, but just in case my mother proposed (and I concurred) that we should serve "Legislated Pi(e)" at the party -- one with a sliver missing to adjust the circumference.

Our party was great.  Salt made Frito Chili Pi(e) with chili from an Emeril Lagasse recipe he found. It was fabulous. Our neighbors stopped by with Pi Day treats of their own and we toasted the amazing ability to measure round things.

It is an amazing thing, even if I use the Pythagorean Theorem more.  I would like to celebrate Pythagoras Day, but that may be a great deal more controversial in our home given the way that Pi Day sparked one of the few big arguments that Salt and I have had. You see, I made spaniko-Pi-tas for our office in honor of Pi Day, and asked people to calculate the hypotenuse of the pastry triangles, given a=2.5" and b=2.5". Salt said the pastries were misshapen, the measurements weren't accurate and the triangles were not exact right triangles. I said the shape was close enough, these were pastries rather than machine parts, and I could set the assumptions at anything I wanted since it was my word problem. We had a big debate involving (or in front of) the entire office that was resolved only by eating the pastries. What is the hypotenuse of a pastry for which the measurements of a and b have been rendered to nothing?  Zero.  Salt still insists they weren't proper triangles to begin with. Like Pi the great hypotenuse of pastry debate continues, but what is a holiday without an ugly family disagreement that turns into a decades long grudge match or Py, Pi, ...Pies in your face? 

Happy Pi Day!

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