It’s 3/14, which is Π Day (naturally). A couple of things:
I’d like to direct you to one of the most fascinating New Yorker profiles I’ve ever read: It’s called “The Mountains of Pi”, and it’s from 1992, a profile of the Chudnovsky brothers on their quest for Pi. It is a profile of shared obsession, two men driven to extremes by their desire to understand Pi. It’s also from a time when something like a “computer” in your house was a novelty, let alone a “supercomputer”, built to serve Pi and Pi alone.
The Chudnovsky brothers claim that the digits of pi form the most nearly perfect random sequence of digits that has ever been discovered. They say that nothing known to humanity appears to be more deeply unpredictable than the succession of digits in pi, except, perhaps, the haphazard clicks of a Geiger counter as it detects the decay of radioactive nuclei. But pi is not random. The fact that pi can be produced by a relatively simple formula means that pi is orderly. Pi looks random only because the pattern in the digits is fantastically complex. The Ludolphian number is fixed in eternity – not a digit out of place, all characters in their proper order, an endless sentence written to the end of the world by the division of the circle’s diameter into its circumference. Various simple methods of approximation will always yield the same succession of digits in the same order. If a single digit in pi were to be changed anywhere between here and infinity, the resulting number would no longer be pi; it would be “garbage”, in David’s word, because to change a single digit in pi is to throw all the following digits out of whack and miles from pi.
“Pi is a damned good fake of a random number,” Gregory said. “I just wish it were not as good a fake. It would make our lives a lot easier.”
Around the three-hundred-millionth decimal place of pi, the digits go 88888888 – eight eights pop up in a row. Does this mean anything? It appears to be random noise. Later, ten sixes erupt: 6666666666. What does this mean? Apparently nothing, only more noise. Somewhere past the half-billion mark appears the string 123456789. It’s an accident, as it were. “We do not have a good, clear, crystallized idea of randomness,” Gregory said. “It cannot be that pi is truly random. Actually, truly random sequence of numbers has not yet been discovered.”
Second thing: I have Jessie to thank for pointing me in the direction of Kate Bush’s song about Pi.
Third thing: I have seen Lucy Kaplansky perform numerous times. Her father was a mathematician, as well as a musician/composer, and he wrote “a song about Pi”, where the notes of the song correspond to the starting digits of Pi. At every Kaplansky show I’ve been to, some audience member requests “song about Pi.”
So, in honor of Pi Day, here is Lucy Kaplansky singing her dad’s song “Song About Pi”. So glad it’s on Youtube. Great introduction too.
Thanks for sharing this, Sheila. Although I hated mathematics at school, I’m fascinated by this kind of story, which seems to go way beyond science and into the realms of art and even philosophy.
There’s something so poignant and awesome – literally awesome – in a sentence like this:
“Kanada and his team were a little surprised to learn of unknown competition operating in American cyberspace, and they got on a Hitachi supercomputer and ripped through five hundred and thirty-six million digits, beating the Chudnovksys, setting a new world record, and seeing nothing.”
These kind of figures are mind-blowing in themselves, but that “and seeing nothing”? Wow…
There’s also a song called “3.14” by Yoko Kanno, at the end of which the singer recites Pi to fifty or so places. According to translations the sung verses are about geometric figures (circle, square and such). It’s in Japanese, a capella, and quite charming even when you don’t understand the words.
Kate Bush also has a pi song! Love me some pi.
Ooh! I didn’t know about her song! Love her!
That album, Arial, took me a while to get in to but I really enjoy it now.
Oh and Sheila that album also has a song about Elvis!
That brought me to tears. Wanting him to be happy. It’s a very unique thing he had with his fans. Thanks for passing that on.
my pleasure!
How cool is it that Einstein was born on II day? Just seems to fit, don’t it?
What a wonderful song! I wish I had seen this earlier; I’d have played it for my math classes today.
And thanks for posting again about the Chudnovsky brothers; they’re always a very cool read.
Happy pi day, Sheila!
You too!
Definitely remember to bust out this song whenever you need to lighten the mood in your classes! :)
Next year will be even more accurate when it occurs on 3/14/15 (I’ll point this out to my students at 9:26:53)!
One of the benefits of our Day/Month/Year order is that we get a π day and everyone else doesn’t. America Uber Alles. baby!
Doy, Month/Day/Year.
Ooh, yes, next year is a big one!!
And ZOMFG, Lucy Kaplansky’s dad’s song is wonderful. And so is the Kate Bush song. Ain’t life good?
It sure is. I love people.
Lucy’s dad Irving sounds like a very accomplished guy. Wow. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Kaplansky
mutecypher, I had to look up ZOMG, and in one of the pages sifting through its origins I came across the word ‘apocraphycal.’ – as in ‘this explanation is apocraphycal.’
Is this a real word? I would love to believe so.
Apocraphycal (adj.) – something that is both apocryphal and crap.
Apocraphy (n.) the practise of making up fake explanations for stuff on the internet. Example ‘90% of stuff on the internet that is not porn is apocraphy.’
(see also Apocrapalyse (n.) an unsatisfactory apocalypse)
Helena –
That’s a great definition. We should submit it to the OED!
I googled the word, and the most common occurrence appears to be in a book about a Chinese Buddhist Monk’s travels to India in the 7th century.
http://librarum.org/book/21983/208
It was also listed as one of the interests of this French scholar: “Sources of the Koran, Apocraphycal literature.”
http://univ-amu.academia.edu/ClaudeGilliot
Also used in this book
https://books.google.com/books?id=dGMVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA42&lpg=PA42&dq=apocraphycal&source=bl&ots=MISYJYVgdw&sig=U2aAXaUPl4QetjUk9rvY89_wpDk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ZWsEVaaONY6xogSw9IKwCQ&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=apocraphycal&f=false
I love the humble, unassuming title “A Complete and Impartial View of All The Religions.”
And as a reminder, ∏ day this year is extra special – accurate to the first 5 places! 3/14/15
For me, ZOMG means Zombie Oh My God!
Thanks, mutecypher. Zombies, natch.
I’m enjoying Super Pi Day so far, lots of interesting pi related stuff popping up, most of it not apocraphycal.
A friend just pointed out the me that next year will be even more accurate, since 3.14.159 rounds up to 3/14/16 – if you’re only allowed to use the Month/Day/Year.
ZOMG is an onomatopoeia, given for the sound gamers make when suddenly confronted by zerg, mutants in space, zombies, vampires, dragons, or any other species of creatures intent upon chasing, maiming and then killing their onscreen counterparts. Useful in any variety of worlds.
Happy Pi Day!
Zerg is the plural of … zerg?
I was also imagining/hoping ZOMG was a modern version of ZOUNDS!
Helena: //Zerg is the plural of … zerg?//
Yes! Zerg are the many who become one, much like the Borg, but much more spidery in nature. Originated in the game Starcraft, but the word has now been expanded to players themselves of any game in which a group forms a mob led by one intrepid PC, whose purpose is to raid zones, destroy the bad guys, and gather loot.
On the players’ side, use of the additional “F” in ZOMG may be determined by the size of the monster trying to kill you–or their speed, suddenness of appearance, etc.
On my own, I have tried to get “ZOUNDS” and also “S’WOUNDS” into the parlance in my own house, without much luck.
Helena,
I think there are regional variations in pronunciation. For example, in my house ‘ZOMG” is pronounced so that it almost rhymes with “whomp” (there it is).
Jessie – speaking of Kate Bush, just this morning I came across her classic and simple letterhead, on one of my favorite sites:
http://www.letterheady.com/post/69185045129/katebush
That’s gorgeous lettering (love the almost off-kilter S), and also a thing I never knew existed until now!
Yes – love the off-kilter S too!
That site is not updated nearly as much as I would like – haha. But it’s a beautiful archive.
//On my own, I have tried to get “ZOUNDS” and also “S’WOUNDS” into the parlance in my own house, without much luck.//
I am going to get zerg into the parlance of my house.
I didn’t realize that this post was a couple years old until I saw the comments…but still, it’s a great post! I love how you get to the really fascinating inside story of this almost mystical number. (My own tribute, obviously, sticks to the Deeply Silly end of the Pi pool….)
There was a girl in 4th grade who wrote on her desk – she had calculated Pi out to about 50 numbers – all by herself. I’ll never forget that. My obsessions ran towards make-believe and storytelling – hers went in another direction. I was in awe of it. and she wasn’t an obvious math-nerd. She was a child in Summer of Love hippie form. She played the guitar. She ended up getting pregnant at 15 and dropping out of high school. She lived in a tent with her much older boyfriend. She was a famous “outlaw” in my demographic. Apparently, she now designs light sabers. I’m not even kidding.