The fabled mathematical constant known as Pi received the spotlight recently at Thoreau Demonstration Academy. Pi Day was observed on March 14 due to π being equal to roughly 3.14.
Thoreau students participated in a series of events including learning irrational numbers, activities measuring circumferences and diameters of circles, group skips, a Pi bee and art exhibit.
“It’s a neat idea which teaches kids in a fun way the difference between irrational and rational numbers,” says Thoreau Principal Tom Padalino. Irrational numbers, for those of us not lucky enough to attend a school like Thoreau, are non-terminating, non-repeating numbers.
The first Pi Day celebration was held in San Francisco in 1988. Pi represents the ratio of any circle’s circumference to its diameter in Euclidean geometry, which is the same as the ratio of a circle’s area to the square of its radius. The concept is used in math, science and engineering.
