Tag Archives: Math is cool

Math facts

Abigail is in middle school this year.  Kids seem to get interesting starting in middle school.  They think differently.  Well, I guess most folks wonder if middle school kids think at all, but I like the way they think (mostly).  It’s fun to watch as things dawn on the kids as they age…I guess I can almost see the world open up for them to all of the neat things that maybe I take for granted.  But beyond that, they still have that spark where just enough is different and new for them.  They aren’t yet jaded…naivete remains, at least a little.

Abigail Math

So Abigail had a task to use mathy stuff to describe a few things about herself in her math class.  I think this project was sort of fun for her, but she didn’t mention a thing about it until Emily discovered it during open house (yes, we are already in school and have already done open house). I love how she loves PI stuff.  I love how she drew her brother as tall as taller than me and bald.  I love how she drew our 3 cats and 5 chickens as our pets.  This is no artistic masterpiece, but, like most parents, I couldn’t be happier with the result of what comes from my own kids!

It’s Pi Day!

You may not be aware but today is Pi Day…not American-as-apple-pie pie but 3.1415-remember-geometry-and-circles Pi Day!  It’s March 14…that is, 3.14!  Lots of people might ignore such a day but without circles and their measurement and pi in general, our world would be a much less fun place.  Science and math make the world go ’round…get it?  Round…circles…pi!

pi-pie
It’s meant to be!

 

Chocolate pie!
Chocolate pie!

The number π is a mathematical constant, the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.  I am a computer programmer by trade and took a lot of math classes as I went through my schooling so I was exposed to a lot of this but if you have not had tons of math exposure, you should definitely read the info about pi on wikipedia…it is truly fascinating!

So, to honor this special day, we baked a pi…I mean a pie last night.  I took a bunch of pics of the process but that was boring.  Instead, I figure it might be more interesting to see a few pics that clearly illustrate what pi is and how it relates to the humble circle.

Pi unrolled

 

sine curve and pi

 

Weren’t those super cool?!

Reciting Pi
Click to play video

(Or try here if that doesn’t work)

Here’s something else that is pretty cool…when Isaac was in elementary school, he took it upon himself to learn pi to 50 digits.  He still remembers it and recited it for me!  Abigail recently began to memorize it and she knows it to 12 digits.  For most intents and purposes, 4 or 5 digits is plenty but more precision is…well…more precise so why not learn it?!  Incidentally, the memorization of the digits of pi is called piphilology.  The world record for memorizing the digits of pi is 67,890…that’s amazing!

Reciting Pi
Click to play video

(or try here if that doesn’t work)

So friends…enjoy this pretty cool day and get your ovens baking…it’s Pi Day!