Atlanta, GA 3/14/2008 9:23:32 PM
News / People

Pi Day Celebration Begins on March 14

March 14 is the date of the light-hearted holiday, Pi Day, commemorating the famous mathematical Greek letter.

Since the infinite formula begins with 3.14, Pi Day falls on the 14th day of the third month, hence March 14. The celebration starts officially at 1:59pm, continuing the first six digits of Pi, which are 3.14159.

This is the 20th anniversary of the first Pi Day celebration, which was held at the San Francisco Exploratorium in 1988. According to the history of Pi Day, it was founded by Larry Shaw, a scientist at the Exploratorium.

The holiday is celebrated by singing the official Pi Song, which is just reciting the infinite digits of Pi. The people that celebrate also line up and walk around in the infinite stream of Pi's numbers. At the end of the celebration, everyone eats pies with the Greek symbol on top.

March 14 is also the birthday of Albert Einstein, which is an added bonus. Shaw did not discover this until 1989 when his 14-year old daughter was doing a report on Einstein and told him of his birthday.

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