Pi Day

You could wrap a string around the edge of your favorite coffee mug, measure the length of the string (C), measure the diameter of your coffee mug (d), and use the equation π = C/d.  Alternately, you could use Ramanujan's equation 1/π = {(√8)/9801} Σ_(n=0)^(∞) [{(4n)!/(n!)^4}{(26390n + 1103)/396^4n}].  Your neighborhood pizza joint couldn't care less.  Come the fourteenth of March, they do however strangely want their clientele to feign solidarity with Archimedes of Syracuse for exactly one day and use that as an excuse to pad their arteries with grease from cheesy pies at discounted rates.  After all, it is Pi Day!  It's a harmless seasonal business strategy, they say, notwithstanding the part sophistry played to the ego of their patrons to make them feel like intellectual blue blood.  And once the cortisol juices start flowing, the customer loses the ability to reason rationally.  He falls for the glossy ads that manifest in his mailbox exactly one day earlier, replete with photographs of a cheesy slice breaking away from a pie with an ample cheese pull, conveniently letting slip from memory another Pie Day (note the e after the i, National Pie Day is Jan 23 started by Charlie Papazian) just a couple months ago when he had fallen a similar glossy ad depicting a sweeter cousin from the pie family.  After all, in today's climate of dietary indiscretion, a "just because" indulgence (as the American Pie Council puts it) is simply a click away.  As easy as pie!

If you would like to truly experience Pi Day, visit https://www.piday.org/.  It is a pretty fun website and seems to have been built primarily for school kids.  Check out the "What is Pi" and "Celebrate Pi" tabs.  Also check out the "Calculators" tab, which not only has pi related calculators but also an annuity calculator and compound interest calculator.  Those who find more joy in edible pies may visit http://www.piecouncil.org/.