Today is (once again) March 14th or Pi Day. For some background, I’ve written about it before:
Because today is a Monday there will be no pie for me, but it turns out my every waking moment is likely touched by pi. Yours too.
The New York Times has an interesting article on the history of pi and how embedded it’s become in our daily life.*
Pi Day: How One Irrational Number Made Us Modern
In every field of human endeavor, from reconstructive facial surgery to the simulation of air flowing past a jet’s wing, billions of tiny, discrete elements stand in for an inherently smooth and analog reality. It all began with the computation of pi. Pi represents a mathematical limit: an aspiration toward the perfect curve, steady progress toward the unreachable star.
So I will appreciate all the ways the irrational infinite has come to shape our rational, finite experience.
Also maybe later this week, dessert.
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* Here’s a bit more history for those who are interested: Which Came First, The Algorithm or the Pi? – Now I Know.
J.R. Johnson 
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