Pi Day 2023: History, Significance and Why it is Celebrated on March 14?

PI DAY 2023: This year March 14 marks the 144th birth anniversary of Nobel Prize winning physicist Albert Einstein. The day is also observed as Pi Day to celebrate the mathematical constant, Pi which happens to have one of the most recognisable mathematical symbols π.

It is celebrated on this day since the date, when written in the format of month/day (3/14), matches the first three digits of the value of the mathematical constant. It was mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse, born in 287 BC, who first calculated the value of the Pi.

However, the mathematical constant was popularised later when Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler used the symbol of Pi in 1737. The symbol for Pi has been in use for over two and a half centuries now. It also finds its place in Egyptian mythology.

People in ancient Egypt believed that the pyramids of Giza were built on the principles of pi. The vertical height of the pyramids has the same relationship with the perimeter of their base as the relationship between a circle’s radius and its circumference.

Pi also happens to be a unique Mathematical value as it represents the ratio of the circumference of any circle to its diameter. Most commonly the value of Pi is calculated up-to two decimal points, 3.14. However, given it is an irrational number, following the decimal point, the digits do continue to go on up to 70,000 decimal points. The value of Pi in fraction is 22/7.

This also makes March 14 known as Mathematics Day as recognised by the United Nations.

According to UNESCO, The International Day of Mathematics aims to showcase the fundamental role played by the mathematical sciences in the achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

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