March 14: Paying Homage to Pi

Math and number geeks everywhere know there's no real need to rush out and buy a blueberry pie to celebrate, but you still have time to celebrate Pi Day.

Pi Day honors the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. That ratio is 3.14, hence the celebration on March 14.

With the use of computers, Pi has been calculated to over one trillion digits beyond the decimal, according to the Pi Day website.

"Pi is an irrational and transcendental number, meaning it will continue infinitely without repeating," the website states.

The Greek letter (∏) was first used to represent Pi by William Jones in 1706, but became popular after it was adopted by Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler in 1737, according to PiDay.org.

Locally, Pi Day has taken a back seat to the administration of Maryland School Assessments, standardized tests administered annually as required by federal law.

"I don't know of any celebrations going on here, because the MSAs are very time-consuming," said a woman who answered the phone Tuesday at Edgemere Elementary School.

Local meteorologist Justin Berk paid homage to Pi Day on his Facebook page.

Berk listed Pi carried out to 50 numbers beyond the decimal point in his status update and said he can recite those from memory.

"If we ever meet in person, just ask me on the spot to recite it and I gladly will ... then I'll tell you why I know it which may seem less 'geeky,' he wrote.

So get out there and find some way to celebrate the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.

And if you must, buy a pie.