Talk:Pi Day

Regionalism

This article needs to include content about Pi Day outside the USA, or to be rewritten to make clear that it is a US-only event. I see that I'm far from the first to raise this issue, so I'm surprised to note the removal of the tag to that effect, which I've restored. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 12:09, 15 March 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for explaining why you tagged. I've re-added the American qualifier. If this event is truly worldwide, sources need to be provided to indicate that. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 14:22, 15 March 2014 (UTC)

   Hear Neil speak! It exists and is documented in some US contexts, and we are unlikely to be able to prove the negative that Pigs wants asserted: especially not, as math educators are probably capable of teaching the lesson plan titled "Look, you can list year, month, and day in a different order, without going insane!" -- especially since it

(a) gives students practice in distinguishing arbitrary conventions from laws of nature,
(b) saves educators the dog-work of "translating" materials from one set of conventions to another (and gives students an occasion to acquire that skill), and
(c) can help teach the fact that the lack of evidence for A, and presence of evidence for B, does not support the false syllogism "we know the existence of B produced evidence, and evidence for A is lacking, so A doesn't exist".

   Sure, it'd be a good thing if someone can verify that it's done elsewhere, or that it's not, but if Pigs wants to see that happen, there's only one editor they can assign to do the needed research!
--Jerzy•t 20:20, 21 February 2015 (UTC)

You assert that I am asking you to prove a negative. I am not. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 20:28, 21 February 2015 (UTC)

You could always mention International Pi Day as the 3rd of January, 4159. Of course, I'm making that up. But people in the 42nd century will surely find it a reason to celebrate. 154.20.88.158 (talk) 07:54, 14 March 2015 (UTC)

http://familymathcanada.org/pi-day/, http://o.canada.com/technology/brain-controlled-pie-game-trigger-epic-pie-catapult-in-geekiest-pi-day-celebration-ever, https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/mar/13/pi-day-celebration-maths-fans-language-memory-contests, https://lnu.se/subjects/mathematics/1.17977/pi-day-celebrated-at-teknikum?l=en The problem isn't sources, it's that this is not a real thing, it's more a minor cultural phenomeno. If it was restricted to those who go month/date/year that fact is now irrelevant. Richardson mcphillips (talk) 13:42, 14 March 2016 (UTC)

Although I do admit to being slightly irritated by the suggestion that the world celebrates some event based on the US m/d date format, I feel I also have to point out that the truly-international ISO 8601 date format (usually quoted as yyyy-mm-dd) would also yield this same day (March 14th).TonyP (talk) 14:36, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

Stephen Hawking's death

Per WP:NOTFORUM, this article has nothing to do with Stephen Hawking.

He died on this day in 2018 A.D.. ;-] 210.186.24.203 (talk) 13:52, 14 March 2018 (UTC) With all due respect to Mr. Hawking, so what?--Khajidha (talk) 14:01, 14 March 2018 (UTC) Celebrating Albert Einstein's birthday has been part of the Exploratorium's celebration from the start (or close to it) and some say the connection has added to its popularity. Perhaps people will remember Hawking too.— Preceding unsigned comment added by StrayBolt (talk • contribs) 14:16, 14 March 2018 (UTC) Is the Einstein thing part of Pi Day celebrations or is it a different celebration that happens to be on the same day? Neither of these physicists has much to do with pi and I am failing to see any reason to mention them here. Especially Hawking, considering that his connection to the date has only just occurred.--Khajidha (talk) 14:22, 14 March 2018 (UTC) Wikipedia doesn't define links; if culture adopts him into the celebrations and reliable sources mention it, then he could be mentioned here in the future. Until then, he's mentioned in the March 14 article. Reliable sources are important. Today is also Steak and Blowjob Day; by the same arguments above that he should be mentioned due to passing away on the same day, we should mention him in that article too if we equally disregard reliable sources. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 14:29, 14 March 2018 (UTC) Hawking's death on Pi Day could be defined as a "notable" news event, WP:NOTABLENEWS, as readily seen by the plethora of worldwide reports today. I maintain it's notable concurrent with Einstein events, and offered this edit reverted by JohnBlackburne as trivia. But the concurrence of Hawking's death with Pi Day and Einstein's birthday is predictably long-lasting. Quoting from NOTABLENEWS: "...not non-notable per notnews solely because it is about a current event, nor does news coverage about an article’s subject make it non-notable. To the contrary, news coverage can only serve to increase the notability of an article." The section containing Einstein and Hawking could be titled, "Concurrent events". --Zefr (talk) 19:08, 14 March 2018 (UTC) It’s just a coincidence. Many notable people have been born or died on March 14th, including other mathematicians and scientists. But we don’t list them in this article, they are listed in March 14, the appropriate article for such anniversaries.--JohnBlackburnewordsdeeds 19:28, 14 March 2018 (UTC) A notable unique coincidence with inevitable long-lasting reference, as is Einstein's birthday and the 3rd paragraph under Observance. --Zefr (talk) 21:06, 14 March 2018 (UTC) We mention that this one place celebrates both at the samd time. We do not say that they are intronsically linked. And we don't talk about Einstein outside of that.--Khajidha (talk) 21:16, 14 March 2018 (UTC) The Exploratorium has been celebrating both for a long time, here is their 1999 event. I recall Larry saying they have been together since (almost?) the beginning for them (but I misplaced the RS). I have another (misplaced) RS that mentioned that the connection probably helped Pi Day's popularity, a synergy. I'll post them when I come across them again. StrayBolt (talk) 03:48, 15 March 2018 (UTC) "Celebrate Pi Day and Einstein's Birthday" shows that these are two things that happen to coincide, not teo parts of the same thing. Your own evidence argues against you. --Khajidha (talk) 10:43, 15 March 2018 (UTC) Impossible to argue they are not coincidental. I was arguing for the synergy. "But great ideas have a way of catching on and, before long, Pi Day was a fixture and a public celebration at the museum, and then by math lovers everywhere. It didn’t hurt the cause, he (Larry Shaw) often said, that March 14 also turned out to be the birthday of Albert Einstein."[1] StrayBolt (talk) 05:30, 17 March 2018 (UTC) And the synergy with Einstein is covered as far as it is relevant. Any synergy with Hawking is just speculation at this point. --Khajidha (talk) 22:16, 17 March 2018 (UTC)

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Tau Beta Pi, etc., fundraising

Some organizations have taken to using the day for puns on their name in fundraising e-mails. For example, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, for which the normal acronym is RPI, sends e-mails near March 14 in which it calls itself Rπ or RPi, and the engineering honor society Tau Beta Pi has also done Pi Day-related fundraising. Does this belong in the article? If so, someone other than me should add it because too much of what I know is "original research" (mainly, or really exclusively, reading the e-mails that have been sent to me).47.139.43.80 (talk) 03:51, 17 March 2019 (UTC)

If there's a reliable third-party source mentioning them, those sound like good things to add to the elenfation section, but only as brief mentions, lest the section be overly tilted toward them. oknazevad (talk) 14:57, 17 March 2019 (UTC)

approximation day?

22/7 is a better approximation to pi than 3.14 you know. Why would this be "approximation day" vs pi day? Anyway, the one linked citation is broken and I find no other evidence of this actually being "celebrated".. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gjxj (talk • contribs) 12:04, 22 July 2019 (UTC)

Not only 22/7, but also stuff like ⁹³⁷²⁴⁶¹⁵⁸∕₂₉₈₃₄₁₅₆₇ and other fractions like that? And we should probably also provide a link to Pi, Pie, and the official Pi day website. 68.50.116.194 (talk) 20:21, 17 November 2021 (UTC)

But there's no way to have a recurring date with those fractions, unlike 22/7. oknazevad (talk) 23:08, 17 November 2021 (UTC)

humor aspect

Maybe the humorous aspect of the Pi-Day should be mentioned. As a mathematician I laughed a lot, when I first heard of the Pi-Day. But a lot of people I have talked to did not understand that kind of humor — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.55.22.67 (talk) 18:54, 15 March 2021 (UTC)

Suggestion

Add a thing at the beginning of the page called "√-1 2³ ∑ π'"? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.50.116.194 (talk) 20:15, 17 November 2021 (UTC)