Saturday, March 14, 2015

Life of Pi II

PLOT DEVICE: Will a hungry tiger bite off more than he can chew by eating the largest known irrational number?
Welcome to Pi Day, a day set aside by math nerds who love a number a smidgen over '3' with an infinitely huge tail (no, not Kim Kardashian's IQ).

Pi Day, or as the illegal aliens call it, "Catorce de Marzo", is calculated by dividing the circumference of a circle by its diameter, leaving the resulting ratio as 3.14 blah blah blah. It has been 'computed' to over 2.7 TRILLION digits and the Supercomputers are still crunching. I, for one, am infinitely thankful these Supercomputers are doing the work most Americans (or illegal immigrants for that matter) won't do.

FUN FACT: In 2015 (that's this year) AT a fraction of an atomic moment following 9:26:53 am, Cinco de Mayo is EXACTLY 52 days AFTER Catorce de Marzo in 2015, per the Mayan calendar.

ARE YOU LISTENING? I said, "52!". This may not happen again for another hundred years. And I don't have to tell you the significance of this. There are 52 weeks in a year, 52 cards in a deck of playing cards, AND "52" is the code for international direct dial phone calls to Mexico! Kinda blows your cabeza, dont'it?

HELPFUL "TIP": Next time you're using Pi to solve complex algorithms and random vectors in order to calculate the proper amount to leave for a 15% tip, it is standard acceptable etiquette to round your infinite number to just two decimal places.

MOTIVATIONAL TAKE-AWAY: Next time life hands you a lemon and you feel like throwing in the towel and just giving up, just remember Pi hanging in there and continuing to grind the sausage with another number. If "Pi", a lonely consonant followed closely by a single vowel can do it, SO CAN YOU! Just remember, there is no "I" in "Pi"... errr... OK, maybe there is, but there is no "quit" in "Pi".

Please join me in this non-synchronized moment of silence in deference and honor to that number that just refuses to give up. [Pause] Gracias!

4 comments:

  1. The concept of an infinitely non repeating decimal is so surreal.
    So is your post.
    Coincidence? I think not!

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  2. Personally, I think Pi is God's way of sorting out those with the propensity to waste time by playing with computers. Call it a cosmic prank; and proves God has a sense of humor.

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  3. Ed, I know. My blog sometimes feels like infinity when reading it. You start a post and somehow know you'll never get to the end of it.

    Jess, to prove your point, this -
    I have stated that there is no quit in Pi, because then it would be called "Piquit", and according to the urban dictionary,
    Piquit means:
    "something, or someone that is small and/or adorable in almost every way possible"
    so may be there is a little quit in Pi. I'll have to study this further.

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