Happy Pi Day!

petros

petros

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Nov 21, 2008
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Pi, Greek letter (
), is the symbol for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Pi Day is celebrated by math enthusiasts around the world on March 14th. Pi = 3.1415926535…

With the use of computers, Pi has been calculated to over 1 trillion digits past the decimal. Pi is an irrational and transcendental number meaning it will continue infinitely without repeating. The symbol for pi was first used in 1706 by William Jones, but was popular after it was adopted by the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler in 1737.



Pi Day is also Einstein's B-day.



Happy Birthday Al
 
Dexter Sinister

Dexter Sinister

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Oct 1, 2004
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petros said:
,,,was popular after it was adopted by the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler in 1737.
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And then he found what's now called Euler's equation, e^iπ + 1 = 0, a most elegant, extraordinary, and counterintuitive result, that the transcendental number e (he coined that symbol too), the base of natural logarithms (=2.718281828459...), raised to the power of another transcendental number π, times the imaginary number i, the square root of -1, plus one, is an integer, zero. That was after he'd figured out that the trigonometric functions sine and cosine and the exponential function e^x could be expressed as the sums of infinite series and that e^ix = cos(x) + i sin(x). The number e itself emerges from an analysis of compound growth, something growing in such a way that the increment of its growth during any time interval is always proportional to how big it already is, like compound interest on money, or the growth of a bacterial colony. If you analyze what happens as the time interval shrinks toward zero and the number of intervals increases without limit, you get an infinite series that adds up to e. Euler, a truly transcendent genius, thus established, among many other things:

1. a deep and hitherto unexpected connection between the exponential and trigonometric functions
2. multiplication by i is equivalent to a 90 degree counterclockwise rotation
3. imaginary numbers--awful name for them--and certain transcendental numbers are at the very heart of mathematics and physics. The equations of quantum theory and general relativity cannot be written without them, and it has been said that analysis, in the mathematical sense, really begins with Euler's equation.

Let us therefore celebrate not merely pi, but mathematics in general, and on Christmas Day, those of you who doubt the reality of what that's about can celebrate the birthday of another great mathematician and transcendent genius, Sir Isaac Newton, born 25 Dec 1642, before England switched to the Gregorian calendar and his birthday changed to 4 Jan 1643.
 
Dexter Sinister

Dexter Sinister

Unspecified Specialist
Oct 1, 2004
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Regina, SK
On Pi Day, the Mathematics Department at my local university stages a debate about the virtues and significance of pi versus various other significant numbers like e and i and the square root of 2, the first irrational number discovered by the Pythagoreans, who were so alarmed by the mere existence of irrational numbers they tried to keep it secret. The people supporting pi as the most significant number always win because the promoters cheat by appealing to human emotion and irrationality. Before the vote is taken, everybody gets a piece of pie.
 
petros

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
117,635
14,363
113
Low Earth Orbit
Dexter Sinister said:
On Pi Day, the Mathematics Department at my local university stages a debate about the virtues and significance of pi versus various other significant numbers like e and i and the square root of 2, the first irrational number discovered by the Pythagoreans, who were so alarmed by the mere existence of irrational numbers they tried to keep it secret. The people supporting pi as the most significant number always win because the promoters cheat by appealing to human emotion and irrationality. Before the vote is taken, everybody gets a piece of pie.
Click to expand...

Science Pub: The third Thursday of every month at 7:00 PM
One manifestation of the new cool image of science is the emergence of the science pub; lectures on scientific topics of general interest, in a pub setting, over beer and snacks. The Bushwakker and The University of Regina present the Science Pub Series. Seating is limited to 50 persons. All lectures are held in the Bushwakker Arizona Room private banquet area. The room opens at 5:00 PM. Many people come down for dinner at that time so that they can ensure they get a seat. Suds and science has proven to be very popular indeed!




Always a good time!
 
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