yesterday was π day in the united states (3/14), but it won’t be π day until 22 july (22/7) in the rest of the world.

(courtesy of some guy i used to work with)

I thought we were all sufficiently geeky to see the significance of today, 3/14.

If 3/14 isn’t enough, look at the rest of the schedule: 3/14, at 1:59, for 26 minutes. That’s 3/14 1:59 26′. Or, smooshed together, 31415926.

The 22/7 part was especially obscure, it was supposed to be a joke about how 22/7ths (3.1428571428571428571428571428571…) is an excellent approximation for Pi (3.1415926535…), and thefore 22/7 (July 22nd for those European metric chaps) is an approximation for Pi day (3/14). There’s a good lesson for engineers in this, as 22/7ths is a “good enough” version of Pi for all but the most demanding applications, despite being a (literally) infinitely less complex expression than Pi. Something for us to keep in mind to temper the natural tendency to “overengineer” solutions.

More resources on Pi and Pi Day:

Pi Day Mission Statement
Pi Day openly promotes the celebration of mathematics education, the collective enjoyment of mathematics, and the ageless, multicultural interest in pi. Educators, students, and parents are encouraged to join together in a variety of public activities, expressing in imaginative ways, their passion for the longstanding creative nature of mathematics.

http://www.mobot.org/education/megsl/pi.html
http://www.exploratorium.edu/learning_studio/pi/
http://www.cecm.sfu.ca/pi/pi.html
http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Edu/RSE/RSEorange/buttons.html
http://www.joyofpi.com/pifacts.html

2006 is the 300th anniversary of Pi, in that the first recorded use of the Pi symbol to represent this ratio was in a book in 1706, so maybe we’ll have a bigger celebration next year. Any maybe a real blowout in 2020 (314 years after publication)?

now you know.

i’m not sure what is happening but it’s probably not going to be entirely good. we only have $1000, and we need $2600 this month. i’m not sure what’s going to happen, but we’ve already shut off our cable service, and moe is working on finding us a cheaper cell phone provider… we’ve also talked about selling the house, and the new car, and moe’s new computer, but that’s all we’ve done, and at this point i don’t know how much of it is going to actually happen. i’ve also applied (again) for disability benefits, in spite of the fact that i already applied once and was denied… because i understand that they deny everybody the first time around in hopes that we’ll get discouraged and look for help somewhere else, but i’m desperate at this point: i’ve already applied for 14 jobs this week, and i don’t have any hopes of hearing back from anyone, because i haven’t heard back from anyone in 8 months.

meanwhile, somebody sent me a check, so now i have to go make a pipe. it’s a good thing i have a whole bunch of creative outlets (i’ve made 3 more sets of runes since sunday, and i’m now the sound effects coordinator – read "funny noise maker" – for the cirque and the players), otherwise i’d really be going nuts.

i wonder if has seen this… if not, it seems like an appropriate link for him.

blatantly stolen from … without even responding to the one he posted (although i probably will eventually)

1) Does my username suit me?
2) Is my journal’s title cryptic or descriptive? What do you think it means?
3) Does my journal expand your knowledge of me?
4) Do you think my bio describes me well?
5) Which of my interests surprises you the least?
6) Which of my interests surprises you the most?
7) Which of my interests needs explaining?
8) Which of my userpics suits me best?
9) Which of my userpics suits me least?
10) Which of my userpics needs explaining?