I'm doing this post as a public service announcement for Mike. Ordinarily I'd blow it off, since numbers usually give me a headache. But M's a special dude in my life, so just for him I'll pass it on for your perusal:
Today is March 14th, which it seems is also known as
Pi Day. That's because pi (sometimes written as
the Greek letter “π”) is a famous number that is approximately equal to 3.14, and today's date is the 14th day of the 3rd month of the year--3/14, get it?
Technically, M tells me, pi is the ratio of the circumference of any circle to its diameter, and it's NOT a nice, even number--heavens no! It's an "irrational" one, which means that to the right of the decimal point the digits never end, but go on and on forever and never repeat any predictable pattern--sort of like Mike when he gets on a mathy rant, only sometimes he does repeat himself. It's also a "transcendental" number. (Please Google that if you feel like it; I'm getting a migraine. Perhaps you are, too.)
M tells me that by using a computer, pi has been computed to over one trillion digits, and who am I to dispute that--Donald Trump? Its value rounds to 3.14159, which further rounds to 3.1416, which makes
this year's March 14th a very special Pi Day, because it's
3/14/16. There won't be another one like this for 100 years.
A hundred. Now that's a number I can sink my teeth into! Speaking of sinking one's teeth into stuff, I asked Mike if he'd like to celebrate pi day with a big piece of--uh--pi, and he said that would be great. I said what kind would you like, and to nobody's surprise he said
this kind:
If anyone would like to roll around in this topic some more,
here's a website that I'll admit is sort of interesting.
Happy Pi Day, everybuddy!
PS - In keeping with the spirit of the occasion, note the exact time we posted this on 3/14 . . .
