Today is Pi Day, an International celebration of the mathematical constant, Pi.
Artwork
Elias’ Pi Page – Why is pi always written in the decimal number system? Read, listen to, and look at pi in the simplest of all number systems, binary.
Pi Patterns – A collection of images and illustrations created by using the digits of the mathematical constant.
Pi 3 point 1416 – A sight that explores mathematics as the language of nature. Centers around the movie Pi.
Sliding Pi – a mosaic tile in a Toronto subway station based on Pi.
Three poems by former CalTech student Eve Andersson: Beauty (Pi in several languages), Pi and Friends, Pi is Transcendental
Calculating Pi
Archimedes’ Approximation of Pi – An explanation of the Greek mathematician’s method for approximating the value of Pi.
Archimedes and the Computation of Pi – An alternate explanation of the ancient method for approximating the value of Pi used in ancient Greece.
Buffon’s Needle: An Analysis and Simulation – Buffon’s Needle is one of the oldest problems in the field of geometrical probability. It was first stated in 1777. It involves dropping a needle on a lined sheet of paper and determining the probability of the needle crossing one of the lines on the page. The remarkable result is that the probability is directly related to the value of pi.
Buffon’s Needle – A small applet that simulates the calculation of Pi using the Monte Carlo method.
Digits of Pi
Pi to One Million Digits – A page displaying the number Pi. (It takes a while to load.)
General Information
Ask Dr. Math: About Pi – A Math Forum which includes a brief history of the number.
Notes on Pi – Offers an introduction to the most famous ratio in mathematics and one of the most ancient numbers known to humanity.
Talking About Pi – History, computational methods, literature, art, and more about the magic number pi.
Wikipedia: Pi – Article about the mathematical constant, pi, including its history, appearances in formulae, trivia, and more.
Your Piece of the Pi – This site describes pi’s history, characteristics, and application. It also includes a distributed computing application for finding a large number of digits.
History of Pi
History and Philosophy of Pi – Probably no symbol of infinity in mathematics has evoked as much mystery, romanticism, misconception and human interest as the number and Greek letter of Pi. Interesting facts and trivia about Pi.
Pi Through the Ages – A brief, but intriguing history of Pi, including a Biblical reference.
Holiday
123Greetings.com: Pi Day – Make your own Pi Day greeting cards online.
Piday.org – The official website commemorating Pi Day.
Pi Day Songs – Some songs you can sing on 3-14.
Slice of Pi, Anyone? – About Pi Day and the transcendental number, by John Shepler.
Wikipedia: Pi Day – Information about the day devoted to the number pi.
Interactive
Color Coded Pi – Play with Pi-inspired color patterns.
The Pi- Search Page – It is believed that any finite sequence of digits will eventually occur in the representation of Pi. Want to find where the first occurrance of your birth date is in the sequence of digits? (Note that this only searches the first 200 million digits so not all long sequences (11 digits or longer) will appear.)
Where is your Birthday – Here’s a search engine that finds and shows you where in Pi your birthday first occurs.
Math behind Pi
Are the Digits of Pi Really Random? – An article reports progress towards answering the question from a theoretical perspective. This article claims that applying the standard tests used to evaluate “psudo-random sequences” gives the result that Pi is a good but not great source of random digits. Looking at the first 10,000 digits, most would conclude that it really isn’t random. But then, humans are very good at seeing patterns that aren’t there.
Dr. Math Answers Questions About Pi – Addresses student questions regarding how to calculate, formulate, estimate pi.
Elias’ Pi Page – Why is pi always written in the decimal number system? Read, listen to, and look at pi in the simplest of all number systems, the binary.
How Stuff Works: Pi – This animated graphic helps to explain Pi and the different ways of calculating Pi, with some related links.
A New Approach to the Universal Constant – A text that tries to prove that pi is 3.1416 exactly.
Memorizing Pi
Baby Geniuses Reciting Hundreds of Digits – Let us celebrate this most nerdy 3.14 with a videos of preternaturally intelligent children reciting hundreds of digits of pi from memory.
Pi Memorize – A free windows application used to help memorize the number Pi to 10000 digits.
Pi Memorama – A fun little page about memorizing pi and other numbers.
How to Memorize Pi – Guidance on how to remember this diffuclt number to several decimal places.
Mnemonic Odes to Pi – A number of poems whose word lengths are the digits of pi. Lots of fun.
Notable Memorizers – World records of number of digits memorized, etc.
Merchandise
Joy of Pi – Book by David Blatner, telling the story of pi and humankind’s fascination with it, from Archimedes to the modern day Chudnovsky brothers.
Pi-Dye – Pi and Math t-shirts and gifts
Pi Poster – Buy or download a pdf of Unihedron’s snazzy Pi poster, featuring 350,390 digits of pi in lines containing 600 digits each.
Pi Shop – Provides accessories with Pi-Prints on them. Shirts, mugs and bags.
Music
Lucy Scale Developments – Pitch, Pi, and other musical paradoxes.
Pi, Pi, Mathematical Pi – Parody of the song “American Pie.”
Pi Song Lyrics – A short, original song about Pi.
The Pi Symphony – An orchestral work whose melodic content is derived from the transcendental number Pi. You can purchase a CD of the synthesized version for $15.00. An orchestral work whose melodic content is derived from the transcendental number Pi. You can purchase a CD of the synthesized version for $15.00.
Trivia
Pi Land – Quiz yourself to find out how much you really know about Pi.
Videos
David Letterman – Math savant Daniel Tammet talks with Dave about how he recited 22,514 digits of Pi on Pi Day 2004.
Maths Pi Song – A song about Pi.
Pi Day Rap – A parody of the rap theme of the of the film 8 Mile.
What is the “Pi” Song? – A brief promo for the PBS series Wired Science.
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