Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Pi Day


π Day you ask? For those of you that don't know I am a Mathematician, and for us Mathematicians it is a day the we celebrate π, the Mathematical constant. Most people know what π is. This being the ratio of circumference to the diameter of a circle, but that is not all π is. In Math there are sometimes things which no one can explain. This is why there is beauty in Mathematics that not many people get to see or realize.

Think of it this way. Did you know that if you randomly drop needles on a sheet of lined paper the probability that a needles will cross one of the lines on the paper relates directly to π. Sure there is much math to it but the relationship is directly tied to π. π = (2l)/(tP) where l is the length of the needle, t being how far the lines are apart, and P being the probability. This relationship is called Buffon's Needle named after Georges Louis Leclerc Comte de Buffon. That is not all the places it appears. It appears in Quantum Mechanics, Relativity Theory, and of course Number Theory. Do you know why π would show up in all these seemingly completely unrelated places? Of course you don't, but neither do I or anyone else for that matter. Does that mean since we can't explain it it is useless? Not a chance even if we cannot explain it, it keeps working, and it keeps turning up all over.

So yes that was a minor Math lesson, but maybe it is just me trying to show how Mathematics can be beautiful and amazing to anyone and everyone. So hopefully I was able to somewhat accomplish that. Mathematician or not have a great π Day

3 comments:

  1. Happy Pi Day Gauss! Have a good one

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  2. Pi day has been great so far. Just need more pie

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