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A place where I can lament the changing times; for eccentric comments on current affairs and for unfashionable views, expressed I hope, in cogent style; also occasional cris de coeur largely concerned, I regret to say, with myself.



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Saturday, 15 March 2008

National Pi Day - 14th March



March 14th is Albert Einstein's birthday; it is also National Pi Day - a day to celebrate that most useful, mysterious and fascinating number. There is some interesting information here - including the fact that Pi is a "transcendental irrational number."

Mathematics is largely a closed book to me (though not arithmetic) but I pride myself on having enough wit to understand the fascination maths holds for those with the right sort of brain. And I can appreciate the especial fascination that the value of pi holds for many:

3.14

15926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209 7494459230781640628620899862803482534211706798214808651 3282306647093844609550582231725359408128481117450284102 7019385211055596446229489549303819644288109756659334461 2847564823378678316527120190914564856692346034861045432 6648213393607260249141273724587006606315588174881520920 9628292540917153643678925903600113305305488204665213841 4695194151160943305727036575959195309218611738193261179 3105118548074462379962749567351885752724891227938183011 9491298336733624406566430860213949463952247371907021798 6094370277053921717629317675238467481846766940513200056 8127145263560827785771342757789609173637178721468440901 2249534301465495853710507922796892589235420199561121290 2196086403441815981362977477130996051870721134999999837 2978049951059731732816096318595024459455346908302642522 3082533446850352619311881710100031378387528865875332083 8142061717766914730359825349042875546873115956286388235 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Of course, pi is the expression of the relationship between a circle's diameter and its circumference. The value has been calculated to billions of decimal places and it never repeats itself. Extraordinary.




More extraordinary was Gizmodo's including a video of the rock band Warrant performing "Cherry Pie". All very strange.

Until the next time

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