The mathematical constant pi appears only in textbooks and is debated by students and mathematicians. That could not be further from the truth. Because we come across pi in our everyday lives.
Pi is the circumference-to-diameter ratio of a circle calculated mathematically.
But what difference does it make in our lives?
Pi is required for any round or spherical object. So, from GPS navigation systems for our vehicles to radar systems and detectors in planes, all systems use pi to compute.
Pi, often known as the Archimedes constant, is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. The beauty of this term is that no matter how wide or tiny the circle is, pi remains constant and helps in the calculation of the object. The irrational number has mind-boggling decimal places that go all the way to trillions. The approximate value of pi is 3.14, whereas the fractional value is 22/7.
Pi is used by everyone, from astronomers to an average person, to calculate the volume and surface area of things. It governs the revolutions of circular objects such as wheels. This plays an essential role in working with planetary bodies and spacecraft that visit them.
Pi is an obvious favourite because it simplifies the computation of all circular objects.
Every year on March 14th, International Pi Day is observed. This is an annual event where mathematicians can celebrate pi and discuss arithmetic expressions with their peers.
PI IS MORE THAN A MATH CONSTANT
The twists and turns associated with pi are prevalent in daily life. Pi can be found in everything from movies to novels to buildings.
Pi The constant is a perplexing puzzle that has been calculated using digital computers up to 100 trillion places after the decimal point. Pi was used in ancient Babylon to indicate the location of buildings and boundaries.
Mathematicians worldwide, starting from the Egyptians to the Greeks, tried to find out the exact value of the constant. Ultimately, it was Greek mathematician Archimedes who discovered the value of pi as 22/7.
Now, with the use of electronic digital computers, the current record for calculating the value of pi is held by Emma Haruko Iwao, who calculated its value to 100 trillion digits after the decimal point.
THE POWER OF PI
This mathematical constant has crossed cultural boundaries, making its way from the realm of formulae and arithmetic into literature and films.
Pi hasn’t just thrilled mathematicians, it has thrilled movie buffs too. In the 1998 American psychological thriller Pi, the protagonist, a maths wizard with delusional headaches, chances upon a number that makes him the target of ill-intentioned Wall Street agents.
The main character in Night of Musuem 2 discovers pi as the key to solving the enigmatic millennium table.
In his novel Contact, astrophysicist Carl Sagan hypothesised an alien message to be buried somewhere deep inside the numerical representation of the transcendental number π. The composer David McDonald also mentions a musical work on the number pi.
So far, no one has found out the ultimate value of pi. Mathematicians are still attempting to figure that out. But we can all appreciate the beauty of pi and the role it plays in everyday lives, and celebrate International Pi Day.
