Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam here. The number referred to as PIE has mesmerized mathematicians for four thousand years. It's the rarest of mathematical constants and unfailingly accurate ratio that's also never ending. The digits of pie have been calculated out more than twenty two trillion decimal places without ever repeating. That makes it an irrational number. The definition of pie is simple.
It's the ratio of a circle's circumference, that is, the length around the circle divided by its diameter, or the length across the circle. But what's remarkable is that, no matter the size of the circle you're measuring, that ratio of circumference to diameter will always equal three point one four one five nine, two six, five, three, five, eight, nine, seven, et cetera, usually shortened to three point one four. Divide the circumference of a tennis ball by its diameter and
you get three point one four. By the circumference of the planet Mars by its diameter, and you get three point one four. Divide the circumference of the known universe by its diameter. You get the point Pie is critical to several basic calculations in geometry, physics, and engineering, including the area of a circle, which is pie times the square of the radius, and the volume of a cylinder, which is pie are squared times the height of the cylinder.
When the ancient Babylonians attempted to measure the precise area of circles back in nine b c E, they assigned a value to pie a three point one to five. The ancient Egyptians came up with three point one six zero five. The Greek mathematician Archimedes, working in the third century BC, and the Chinese mathematician Zoo Changza, working in the fifth century c E, are co credited with calculating the most accurate approximations of pie, before calculus and supercomputers
gave us a more definitive answer. Then, in seventeen o six, the self taught Welsh mathematician William Jones assigned the Greek letter P to this magical number without end, possibly because P is the first letter of the Greek words for periphery and perimeter. The symbol's use was later popularized by eighteenth century Swiss mathematician Leonard Euler, but wasn't adopted worldwide
until nineteen thirty four. The fact that pie can be found everywhere, not only in circles, but in arcs, pendulums, and interplanetary navigation, and that it's infinitely long has inspired a cult following that includes plenty of geeky tattoos and even its own national holiday. National Pie Day was officially recognized by the United States Congress in two thousand nine, but the definitely not square roots of the holiday can be traced back to eight and a man named Larry
the Prince of Pie Shaw. Shaw was a beloved longtime employee at the Exploratorium, a science museum in San Francisco, California, and came up with the idea of Pie Day on a nineteen eighty eight staff retreat following the death of Exploratory and founder Frank Oppenheimer. The date for celebration and well, because the first digits of pie are three point one four March fourteen, or three fourteen. Even better, March fourteenth is also Albert Einstein's birthday, making Pie Day a nerd
double header. The first Pie Day celebration was nothing more than Shaw and his wife handing out slices of fruit pie and tea at one pm one f nine being the three digits following three point one four, but the holiday quickly gained fame in the Bay Area. Shaw eventually built the Pie Shrine at the Exploratorium, a circular classroom
with a circular brass plaque at its center. Every Pie Day celebration at the Exploratorium ended with a colorful parade led by Shaw blasting his boombox with a remix of Pomp and Circumstance set to the digits of Pie and circling the Pie Shrine exactly three point one four times. The parade ended with the singing of Happy Birthday to Albert Einstein. The Prince of Pie passed away in twenty seventeen, but the annual Exploratorium party continues, as do Pie Day
celebrations the world over. Popular ways to celebrate include baking a pie or some kind of circular treat, and holding pie recital contests. The current world record for memorizing and reciting the most digits of pie was set by Hiresh Kumar Sharma of India in twenty fifteen, when he recited a staggering seventy thousand and thirty digits in seventeen hours and fourteen minutes, but it's okay to start somewhere below that.
Producer Tyler says that at one point back in the day he had about a hundred and fifty memorized, but right now can do around eighty three point one two, six, five, eight, nine, seven, four, six, two six, four three three eight, three two seven, nine, five zero two eight, four, one six, nine, three nine seven, zero, five eight, two zero, nine, seven four and four for five nine, two, three, zero, seven, eight, one six, four zero, six three six y. Today's episode was written by Marshall
Brain and Dave Ruse and produced by Tyler Clay. For more on this and lots of other curious topics, visit hastaff works dot com. Brainstuff is a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.