Pi Day 2019

Happy "Pi Day"!  Not pie the pastry, but pi the number.  

The number pi is symbolized by the Greek letter π . We use pi to figure the circumference and area of circles and the volume of spheres and cylinders. The circumference of any circle is its diameter times pi.  The area of any circle is its radius squared time pi.  So what does that have to do with today?

Today is the 14th of March.  Otherwise expressed as 3/14 or 3.14.   Just like the number pi!  But, pi doesn't end at 3.14.  The number is thought to be infinite and non-repeating - no one has found the last digit of pi (currently at over one trillion digits and counting) and there is no sequence of numbers that repeats itself within pi!  Written to 100 decimal points pi is...

3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459230
78164062862089986280348253421170679...

In celebration of Pi Day, I bought two pies (the pastry) to share at work.  One blueberry pie

and one apple pie.

We are eating pie for mathematics!  This is not just because pi(e) is delicious!

Look at all that math!

Now for a little Pie (pi) related math.  The diameter (the distance across a circle from one side to the opposite side, passing through the center of the circle) of each of these pies is 8.5 inches.  To calculate the circumference (the distance around the perimeter of a circle) we just need to multiply 8.5 inches by pi (3.14).

                  Circumference  = π x diameter

                  Circumference = 3.14 x 8.5 inches

                  Circumference =  26.69 inches

I eat this pie in the name of mathematics!

To calculate the area of the pie we need to know the radius.  Radius is the distance from the center of a circle to the edge of the circle.  This number is one half of the diameter - so if the diameter of these pies is 8.5 inches, the radius would be 8.5 inches divided by 2, which equals 4.25 inches.  The formula for calculating the area of a circle is Area = pi times the radius squared (the radius times the radius). Expressed as a mathematical formula this is A= πr².

                 Area = πr²
           
                 Area = π x (radius x radius)

                 Area = 3.14 x (4.25 inches x 4.25 inches)

                 Area = 3.14 x (18.0625 inches²)

                 Area = 56.71625 inches²

That's 56.71625 square inches of delicious per pie!

If I eat 1/6th of the blueberry pie I am eating 9.4527 square inches of pie (56.71625 x 1/6 = 9.4527 inches²)!  

Math can be delicious!

Remember!  This is for the cause of furthering mathematical knowledge!

Happy Pi Day 2018!

Happy "Pi Day"!  Not pie the pastry, but pi the number.  

The number pi is symbolized by the Greek letter π . We use pi to figure the circumference and area of circles and the volume of spheres and cylinders. The circumference of any circle is its diameter times pi.  The area of any circle is its radius squared time pi.  So what does that have to do with today?

Today is the 14th of March.  Otherwise expressed as 3/14 or 3.14.   Just like the number pi!   But, pi doesn't end at 3.14.  The number is thought to be infinite and non-repeating - no one has found the last digit of pi (currently at over one trillion digits and counting) and there is no sequence of numbers that repeats itself within pi!  Written to 100 decimal points pi is...

3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459230 78164 
062862089986280348253421170679...

Just for fun I bought two pies to celebrate Pi Day.

It's about the math, not the deliciousness!

Now for a little Pie (pi) related math.  The diameter (the distance across a circle from one side to the opposite side, passing through the center of the circle) of each of these pies is 8.5 inches.  To calculate the circumference (the distance around the perimeter of a circle) we just need to multiply 8.5 inches by pi (3.14).

                  Circumference  = π x diameter

                  Circumference = 3.14 x 8.5 inches

                  Circumference =  26.69 inches

To calculate the area of the pie we need to know the radius.  Radius is the distance from the center of a circle to the edge of the circle.  This number is one half of the diameter - so if the diameter of these pies is 8.5 inches, the radius would be 8.5 inches divided by 2, which equals 4.25 inches.  The formula for calculating the area of a circle is Area = pi times the radius squared (the radius times the radius). Expressed as a mathematical formula this is A= πr².

                 Area = πr²
           
                 Area = π x (radius x radius)

                 Area = 3.14 x (4.25 inches x 4.25 inches)

                 Area = 3.14 x (18.0625 inches²)

                 Area = 56.71625 inches²

That's 56.71625 square inches of delicious per pie!

Check out all that delicious math!

I hate to admit it , but I can never remember pi past five decimal points.  I only remember that much because of a chant that I learned in college.  From 1993 to 1997 I attended the Illinois Institute of Technology.  One of the school chants was:

Tangent, secant, cosine, sine
3.14159
i, pi, cube root 3
Rock 'em, sock 'em IIT!

Go Scarlet Hawks! 

To learn more about Pi Day and how to celebrate the event please visit Pi Day's official website.

Happy Pi Day 2017!

Happy Pi Day!  What is that you ask?


Pi is a number - expressed to the ten-thousandths place it read as 3.1415.  The circumference of any circle is its diameter times pi.  The area of any circle is its radius squared time pi.  So what does that have to do with today?


Today is the 14th of March.  Otherwise expressed as 3/14 or 3.14.   Just like the number pi. 




Just for fun I bought two pies to celebrate Pi Day.

Celebrating Pi Day with blueberry pie (left) and caramel apple pie (right)

 
Now for a little Pie (pi) related math.  The diameter (the distance across a circle from one side to the opposite side, passing through the center of the circle) of each of these pies is 8.5 inches.  To calculate the circumference (the distance around the perimeter of a circle) we just need to multiply 8.5 inches by pi (3.14).


                  Circumference  = π x diameter

                  Circumference = 3.14 x 8.5 inches

                  Circumference =  26.69 inches

To calculate the area of the pie we need to know the radius.  Radius is the distance from the center of a circle to the edge of the circle.  This number is one half of the diameter - so if the diameter of these pies is 8.5 inches, the radius would be 8.5 inches divided by 2, which equals 4.25 inches.  The formula for calculating the area of a circle is Area = pi times the radius squared (the radius times the radius). Expressed as a mathematical formula this is A= πr².

                 Area = πr²
           
                 Area = π x (radius x radius)

                 Area = 3.14 x (4.25 inches x 4.25 inches)

                 Area = 3.14 x (18.0625 inches²)

                 Area = 56.71625 inches²

That's 56.71625 square inches of delicious per pie!

Math makes pie more delicious!

To learn more about Pi Day and how to celebrate the event please visit the official website of Pi Day.

Happy Pi Day!

Happy Pi Day!  What is that you ask?

Pi is a number - expressed to the ten-thousandths place it read as 3.1415.  The circumference of any circle is its diameter times pi.  The are of any circle is its radius squared time pi.  So what does that have to do with today?

Today is the 14th of March.  Otherwise expressed as 3/14 or 3.14.   Just like the number pi. 


To learn more about Pi Day and how to celebrate the event please visit the official website of Pi Day.

Some Numbers from the 2014-15 School year

376 school programs

8,709 students

619 third-graders

13 community programs

592 participants

The 2014-15 School Year was the biggest year so far for the Isabella Conservation District Environmental Education Program.  Between September 8th 2014 and June 5th 2015, our programs were presented three hundred seventy-six (376) times to eight thousand seven hundred nine (8,709) students.  Michigan law currently requires 175 days of classroom instruction.  This meant that we averaged 2.15 programs per day for the entire school year. 

Please note that when I say "we", I mean "me".  I am currently the only employee of the ICD Environmental Education Program.  With the occasional help of a student volunteer from Central Michigan university, I presented every single one of the 376 programs.

On May 15th we hosted our 6th annual Isabella County Environmental Education Day for third grade students.  Six hundred nineteen (619) students and about 100 adults attended the Environmental Education Day.  That is a lot of students at a one day event.

During the course of the school year (August 2014 to June 2015), I also manged to participate in thirteen (14) community events that were attended by 592 members of the public.

It was a busy year.  I expect the 2015-16 School year will be just as busy.

Some numbers...

Five.

The number of school years that I have been employed by the Isabella Conservation District.

Forty-eight.

The number of school programs that I did during the first year of the program.

Three hundred nineteen.

The number of programs that I did during this past school year.

Nine hundred sixty-two.

The total number of programs that I presented over the past five school years.

Two thousand forty.

The number of students that have attended our annual environmental education day over the past five years.

Twenty thousand eight hundred forty-seven.

The number of students that participated in the nine hundred sixty-two programs over five years.