Today is 14th March. As every year, we are celebrating the day as World Pi Day in commemoration of the mathematical constant pi (π). Find out when and how the day came to be commemorated as Pi Day.

The Pi is represented by a Greek letter, π, and is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. It is an irrational number, which means it cannot be represented by a simple fraction, and hence it has an infinite number of decimal places.

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The day is also celebrated to commemorate mathematics and the impact it has on our daily lives.

Pi is used in a wide variety of applications, such as engineering, physics, statistics, and even art. It is a fundamental mathematical constant that is essential to many calculations, making it a significant part of our lives.

The history of World Pi Day dates back to 1988 when physicist Larry Shaw organised the first Pi Day celebration at the San Francisco Exploratorium. Since then, the day is celebrated around the world, with various events and activities, such as pie-eating contests, maths competitions, and lectures on the significance of Pi.

Here are 10 interesting facts about World Pi Day…

1. Pi is an irrational number with an infinite number of decimal places and cannot be expressed in a simple fraction.
2. Pi has been known for over 4000 years, but it was Archimedes of Syracuse, the mathematician who did one of the first calculations of Pi. As he knew his calculations were not accurate he came up with the value of pi as between 3 1/7 and 3 10/71.
3. The symbol for pi (π) was first used by William Jones in 1706 and was later popularised by mathematician Leonhard Euler.
4. The Guinness record in reciting the most digits of pi is held by Rajveer Meena, who recited 70,000 digits in 2015.
5. The first Pi Day celebration was held at the San Francisco Exploratorium in 1988, and it has since become a global phenomenon.
6. Pi has been calculated to over 31 trillion digits, but it is only necessary to know the first few digits for most applications.
7. The first three digits of pi (3.14) are also the reason why Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th.
8. Pie-eating contests are a popular way to celebrate Pi Day, and the current world record for eating a 9-inch pie is held by Molly Schuyler, who ate it in just under 24 seconds.
9. The symbol for pi is the sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet and is taken from the Greek word for “perimeter.”
10. When added together, the first 144 numbers of pi equal 666 – a number some think is the devil’s number.