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Today is March 14, or 3/14 or 3.14, which happens to be the first three digits of Pi, perhaps the most popular constant in the universe. Now, one can argue that Pi is just riding on the coattails of circles’ popularity. Another reason might have to do Pi’s popularity is its  longevity. It was, after all, first named by the ancient greeks.

I like Pi because of its good-natured irrationality. It simply refuses to be pinned down to an exact value. I kinda like that in a constant. heh.

It’s interesting to see how many people have tried to calculate the exact value of Pi. According to Wikipedia,

“Practically, a physicist needs only 39 digits of π to make a circle the size of the observable universe accurate to the size of a hydrogen atom.”

But people have calculated Pi out to thousands of digits. Just to have fun chasing Pi around. The University of Exeter, for example, has a page that lists a million digits of Pi. 

So to celebrate Pi day, I encourage everyone to get out there and get a little irrational. Refuse to be pinned down. Circle the squares and square the circles.