Pi Day: Everything To Know About The March 14 Math Holiday

Happy Pi Day! March 14 has long been celebrated as ‘Pi Day,’ honoring the mathematical that stands for 3.14. Don’t really understand why this day is so exciting? Let us fill you in on Pi Day below!

Who knew the ratio of a circle’s circumference to a diameter would be such a big deal? That’s what pi is, and it has sparked an annual holiday around the world that is celebrated on March 14, or 3/14 like pi’s 3.14 number. Even those who aren’t enthused by math get into the spirit of this holiday — after all, who doesn’t like an excuse to eat pie or pie someone in the face? Find out some fast facts about Pi Day right here!

Pi Day hasn’t been around for very long.

Although pi has been part of mathematics since the B.C. era, Pi Day has really only been celebrated for the last 27 years. A man named Larry Shaw started the tradition in 1988 at San Francisco’s Exploratorium, where he worked in the electronics group there. Clearly it caught on quickly, and now they have one of the biggest celebrations in the country…complete with a “Pi procession”!

The ultimate Pi Day occurred 424 years ago.

While celebrating 3.14 on 3/14 is fun, the most appropriate Pi Day that has ever happened (and never will happen again) was March 14, 1592. The first seven digits of pi are 3.141592, meaning that date was the most accurate Pi Day the world will ever get!

But never fear, 2016 is special too!

When you round up the first four digits after the decimal point are 14159, that makes pi become 3.1416 — which just so happens to be this year’s date, 3/14/16! It has even been dubbed “Rounded Pi Day.” Hey, we’ll take it!

It also happens to be Albert Einstein’s birthday.

Einstein may have primarily focused on physics, but we’re sure the legendary genius he would love the fact that there is now a holiday built around a mathematical symbol. Albert was born on March 14, 1879, which means this year marks his 137th birthday!

Pi = 3.14, Pi Day 3/14 = FREE PIE

Yep, you read that right. Some places get so excited about this math-based holiday that they give away free slices just so you’ll get in the spirit too. Pizza Hut is even giving away 3.14 years worth of pizza pies to the person that can correctly answer three math questions on its Twitter page at 7 a.m. on Pi Day!

Wait, so why is day this such a big deal again?

Well, technically, Pi Day isn’t a hugely important day. Besides, pi is technically an irrational number! But David Blatner, who wrote a book titled The Joy of Pi brought up a valid point: “Pi Day gives us a great excuse to throw away our fear of math and say ‘Hey, it IS kind of neat!’” And he has a point — after all, we use pi more than we probably think, so why not celebrate it? Especially if it warrants a pie pig-out!

How will you celebrate Pi Day, HollywoodLifers? Tell us below!