Happy birthday Albert Einstein. And also…Happy Pi Day! By some crazy, random happenstance, Einstein’s birthday is March 14, also known as Pi Day (get it? 3.14?)
We celebrate Pi Day at my office with a plethora of pies and bad math puns. But I hadn’t realized until this year that it was also the birthdate of one of our more relatively famous mathematicians. What are the odds that Albert Einstein would be born on Pi Day? Well… I guess Albert Einstein probably would have been able to tell you that. However, to me, it’s seemingly impossible so I feel like we should take this crazy, random happenstance a step further and name it National Math Day. Think about it. We recognize Literacy Days, Science Weeks, History Months; heck, we even have National Watermelon Day (Aug 3, in case you were wondering) … Poor math gets left behind.
(Does quick internet search to ensure is not sticking foot in mouth due to ignorance. Shew! No National Math Day already exist in the annuals of the interwebs)
It appears India had decreed Dec 22 to be National Mathematics Day, but I didn’t find any official American holiday for Math, so by the powers vested in me as a mom, a math aficionado (‘ish… well, a math encouragist), and as a proponent for fun, new ways to learn and become invested in every facet of education, I hereby declare that March 14 henceforth be known as Math Day!
What are the odds that Albert Einstein would be born on Pi Day? Well… I guess Albert Einstein probably would have been able to tell you that.
How do we celebrate this newly inaugurated day of mathematical love? This joint recognition of both a Nobel-prize winner and a quirky never-ending number. You know me… I’m always a lover of fun facts, and what better way to celebrate than to share some.
- Einstein was a late talker, leading his parents to have concerns about his developmental abilities. He also disliked school but loved the study of music.
- In a Star Trek episode from 1967 Spock foils the evil computer by commanding it to “compute to last digit the value of pi.”
- Einstein supported the Civil Rights movement in America. He was a member of the NAACP and considered racism to be the “worst disease” in the country.
- In 1995, Hiroyoki Gotu memorized 42,195 places of pi and is considered the current pi champion.
- Einstein was offered the position of President of Israel but declined.
- Pi has been studied by the human race for almost 4,000 years. By 2000 B.C., Babylonians established the constant circle ratio as 3-1/8 or 3.125. The ancient Egyptians arrived at a slightly different value of 3-1/7 or 3.143.
- Einstein didn’t wear socks and owned the same two suits in different colors to reduce the number of decisions he had to make each day.
- Since there are 360 degrees in a circle and pi is intimately connected with the circle, some mathematicians were delighted to discover that the number 360 is at the 359th digit position of pi.
- Someone once stole Einstein’s brain. At his autopsy, the pathologist took his brain without permission, keeping it for more than 40 years. He eventually obtained permission from Einstein’s son, but he was fired regardless.
- If you consider sweet and savory varieties, there are at least a million varieties of pies in the world.
If nothing else, celebrate today with pies and bad math puns. And read a story about Einstein from Cricket Media such as “Einstein’s Final Project”, which you will find below.
Cricket Media Mama would like to submit the following for your consideration:
I was kicked out of math class for one too many infractions.
I didn’t understand the math, so the teacher summed it up for me.
I used to hate math but then I realized decimals have a point
I’m bad at math, so the equation 2n+2n is 4n to me
We’ll never run out of math teachers because they always multiply.
Math teachers have lots of problems, but watching their figures isn’t one of them.
