CHARLES PRITCHARD
Staff Writer
The average person might not appreciate the importance of pi, but its importance in the mathematical community is obvious. Geometry, trigonometry and all manner of formulas require the mathematical constant that runs on infinitely.
In fact, pi is so important that in 1988, physicist Larry Shaw organized the first large scale celebration for the run of digits on March 14, signifying the first three significant digits of pi: 3.14.
Arriving for the celebration in the San Francisco Exploratorium Museum, people showed up to discuss the
mathematical constant … and, of course, to eat pie.
The event took off and was soon being celebrated by people all over the nation; in 2009, the House of Representatives passed a resolution recognizing March 14 as National Pi Day.
Fredonia is no stranger to Pi Day, and, together, the math professors, Quidditch Club and Harry Potter club hosted an event in McEwen on Thursday, March 12, to celebrate pi with a bit of a twist: Harry Potter themed — or “Harry Pi-ter.”
Everyone who showed up for the event, whether in their street clothes, coordinated outfits for a team or in full costume based off of characters from the series, were there to enjoy themselves and have a little competition in the process.
Each person was assigned to a different house based on the book and movie series: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.
From there, teams and team captains were formed, and it became a competition that tested participants’ intelligence and athleticism, all for the glory and rewards that were promised.
Events and competitions that took place included the likes of the Quidditch competition, in which team leaders were tasked with “riding their broom,” which happened to be a piece of broken hockey or lacrosse stick, down to the pile of questions at the front of the room and bringing it back to their team members in the hopes that someone knew the answer to the question.
From there, they’d bring it to one of the professors and would find out if they were right or wrong. If they were wrong, it was back to the pile to take another shot.
If they got it right, however, they would get a chance to throw a ball into one of the hanging hoops in the hall and hope their aim was true. The hoops varied in distance and points, ranging from one to four.
Other events included such activities as “Best Dressed,” “Charms Class,” “Dueling” and “SMADness.”
The games played were as educational as well as fun for all ages, with a number of children joining in and practicing their “Wingardium Leviosa” spell by writing the digits of pi with their wand in hopes that their college student teammate could memorize them.
And while it wasn’t exactly Pi Day, this didn’t detract from the fun everyone was having.
However, the true Pi Day this year was on Saturday, March 14, 2015, and was supposed to be one of the most special and unique Pi Days yet.
On March 14, 2015 at 9:26 a.m. and p.m., 54 seconds into the minute, the date and time matched the first ten consecutive digits of Pi: 3.141592654.
The only other time — in the relatively near future — the date will match these digits is on March 14, 2115, making it one of the more unique and special Pi Days in our lifetime.
In the end, it doesn’t matter if someone is a math prodigy, or even a professor. Everyone who showed up to Fredonia’s recent event was there having fun, laughing, smiling and probably learning something in the process.
That’s what Pi Day is really about: having fun with friends over an infinite mathematical constant.
And also eating pie. That’s part of it too.