Math enthusiasts celebrate Pi Day of the century, 3/14/15

How irrational is it to carve out a day for pi?

Many mathematicians across the country are celebrating the transcendental number Saturday by sharing fun facts, attending events, or gorging themselves on the homophonous dessert.

Any way you slice it, this year’s Pi Day is particularly important because the date 3/14/15 (March 14, 2015) includes the first five digits of the number pi — which won’t come around again for another century.

Mathematically speaking, pi (represented with the Greek letter “π”) is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.

Pi, the first irrational number most students learn, is typically rounded off to 3.14 — and continues infinitely without repetition.

Famous astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson took to Twitter to share trivia about the number, such as how many digits of pi there are before 0123456789 appears in a sequence (it’s 17,387,594,879).

“Best Pi-Day Ever: 53 minutes & 58 seconds after 6 o’clock, March 14, the year 1592: 3/14/1592; 6:53:58,” he wrote.

Tyson also provided what will be the best Pi Day of the future: “6 minutes & 53 seconds after 2 o’clock, May 9 (or Sept 5), the year 3141: 3141/5/9; 2:6:53.” And there were many more.

The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco got in on the fun by opening four minutes early — at 9:26 a.m. instead of 9:30 a.m. — to more closely conform with pi’s opening digits: 3.1415926, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Inside, astronomers met with visitors to drop Popsicle sticks in a mathematical game that demonstrates the formula for pi, according to the local paper.

Similarly, the National Museum of Mathematics in New York will host a celebration at Madison Square Park at 9:26 p.m. Hundreds of math enthusiasts will create a huge human circle holding glow sticks to illustrate the meaning of pi.

Not surprisingly, Princeton, N.J., the adopted hometown of theoretical physicist Albert Einstein, hosts plenty of events to mark the occasion each year. Saturday’s celebration included the annual Einstein look-alike contest for all ages and a pizza “pi” competition.

In 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution official recognizing National Pi Day.

You don’t need an upper-level science degree to indulge your love of mathematics. If you’re up for a challenge, try mirroring these mathematical mini-celebrations — or start practicing so you’re prepared for next year.

A teen girl shot a video of herself reciting the first 100 digits of pi while playing with a Rubik’s cube and balancing 15 books on her head in 2009.

In 2010, a sixth grader won a Pi Day contest by reciting the first 2422 digits of pi.