Pi Day 3/14/15

Happy Pi Day, everybody! Pi is one of those nearly magical mathematical values because it makes its appearance in so many different areas of math, especially geometry. Every year, 3/14 is a big day for teachers because it corresponds to the start of pi: 3.14. But since pi continues as 3.141592653, this year is actually a big year, since we can translate it to 3/14/15, 9:26:53am. That’s the pi moment of the century, and it’s happening today! (I think that’s more exciting to math teachers than most people. :-D)

Last Friday, Mrs. Labowsky, our district K-6 math coach, joined our class for a special Pi Day lesson. We examined the cans of food that students generously brought in for donation to Gifts of Love. Students measured the circumference of the cans and the diameter, and they divided the circumference by the diameter in order to find the relationship between the two values. Most groups found a quotient between 3 and 3.5. (The variation was because of the imprecise measurements.) This let us introduce the value of pi (and to reveal our awesome pi day t-shirts!)  We discussed that pi is ALWAYS the relationship between circumference and diameter, no matter how large or small the circle is.  We also discussed some of the other places in which pi makes an appearance in math!

I hope you have a great pi day! Curious how long pi “feels”?  Click here to see the first million digits of pi!

Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss