Happy 3.14, Happy Pi day!

For all the things that make math (and life) beautiful, some thoughts about the pi from your
mathematician my friends 😊

Pi is an important number to me personally because it introduced me to the beauty of mathematics

(something I used to spend a lot of time on), sparked my curiosity, and also introduced me to
experiments (which I spend a lot of time on nowadays).

The very first thing we learn about pi is that it has to do with circles. “Take any circle in the world,” my
teacher in the 4th grade explained. “Measure its circumference and diameter. When you divide the
circumference by the diameter, you will always get pi.”

For me, that was (and still is) mind-blowing! Really? Any circle in the world? The one in my name, the
one in your sweater, the one around the sun? I had to see it myself. After school that day, I gathered
together a ring, a dish, and a hula hoop—circles of different sizes. I measured their circumference and
diameters. I calculated their ratios and found that the number always started with 3.14. It was not
exactly the same, but that’s how it always started.

I was so excited that I wanted to show everyone I knew. I was also curious about whether I would prove
the rule right or wrong if I continued to measure circles. That was probably one of the very first
experiments that I ran myself, just to see that the ratio was indeed the pi.

To this day, I find it incredible that all circles in the world, from the tiniest ones in our cells to the biggest
ones in the space, have this same ratio. But you might still be wondering, why does pi deserve a
celebration? Why do mathematicians and others care so much about pi?

To explain, I’ll share some other special mathematical characteristics of pi: First, it is an irrational number
—basically, it cannot be written as a simple fraction (22/7 is only an approximation). Nonetheless, it is
still a real number. It is not an imaginary number, like the square root of -1. Irrationality is a beautiful
concept in math (and in life, too). Only after irrational numbers were discovered could we arrive at
concepts such as “discrete” and “continuous,” and mathematically distinguish quantity from a magnitude
(amazing progress for geometry).

Pi’s irrationality makes it special. But there are other irrational numbers, such as “e,” or the golden ratio,
or the square root of anything that is not a perfect square (the square root of 2, for example). So, why
we do we have a pi day and not an “e day” or “square root of 2” day?

Could it be because the digits of pi are random? They never show a pattern. Yes, they start with 3.14, but
the sequence that follows is always random. Randomness is another important concept in math (and in
life). When there is randomness, there is no pattern and no predictability. Randomness is at the heart of
probability, and its definition has been a source of philosophical debate in math. If something is random,
how can we define it? If we can define it, how can it be random? Some things can never be known with
certainty, and pi is the epitome of this lesson.
Pi is also special because it is a transcendental number. That means that, like e, pi cannot be a solution to
any polynomial equation—those algebra equations we spent so much time on in middle school, such as
X(squared) +X(cubed)/6 + 8.

Transcendence gives pi another crucial property: Infinity. Pi cannot be expressed with a finite
combination of rational numbers. It goes on and on and on. Of course, there are other math sequences
that go on forever. What makes pi so irresistible to mathematicians? Just draw a π for a mathematician,
and watch them smile. Why is that?

The reason pi is so mind-blowing is that it goes on forever, seemingly randomly, yet it has to have an
order because by definition, pi is embodied in a perfect circle. How does it connect randomness and
order so perfectly?

Let’s return to the fact that anything that is circular needs to have the pi in its formula. Think about what
else is circular in our lives. Probably the most important asset we have: Time. After every night, the sun
rises; after every winter comes the spring. Anything that has a rhythm, anything that repeats periodically,
has to have a formula with the number pi. This includes breathing, waves (oceanic, electromagnetic, and
atomic), sleep and anything that has a periodic time or cycle. Thus, pi becomes inevitable.

Combining time and space in one little symbol, pi inescapably explains the structure of the circle, the
rhythm and flow of life. Metaphorically speaking, the properties of pi are the key ingredients of anything
beautiful—of all irrational, random, and infinite things: the ability to get up after falling, the ability to
trust after a heartbreak, the ability to learn. The human mind and the human heart. Love, resilience,
inner strength, determination—like pi, they are the essence of life.

Pi deserves a celebration because it shows the underappreciated beauty of math and life.

Happy pi day from your mathematician ❤️