Pi Day: History, Significance And Other Things You Need To Know

Pi is a mathematical constant that has long fascinated mathematicians and scholars. For centuries‚ physicists and scholars have tried to memorize the value of pi to as many decimal places as possible. The concept of pi has been celebrated on March 14 every year‚ the day of Albert Einstein's birthday. However‚ few people know the real meaning of pi. This article explains the history‚ significance‚ and other things you need to know before celebrating Pi Day. Since ancient times‚ pi has been known by man. The Greek letter p was first used in the 1700s by mathematicians. William Jones introduced the concept in 1706‚ and Leonhard Euler popularized the symbol in 1737. During his time at the Exploratorium‚ Physicist Larry Shaw invented a method for computing p by probability‚ a formula that has become the basis for many math calculations. Pi is celebrated on March 14 since its discovery by Archimedes. The U.S. House of Representatives designated March 14 as Pi Day in 2009. This celebration started small but grew over time. In the United States‚ it has become a tradition‚ and the Exploratorium continues to celebrate the holiday despite Shaw's death. Scientists had known for centuries that the circumference of a circle was the same as its diameter‚ but they were unsure how to calculate it.