Off the bat, self is only able to recite the numbers in π out to 3.14159265, not that he ever tried for more than that. But since today marks the once in a century chance to commemorate the ratio of circumference of a circle to its diameter, one does what one can. There is, of course, a Pi Day website, which tells us at the start:
"Pi has been calculated to over one trillion digits beyond its decimal point."
If you want to sample the first million digits, you can indulge in internet vertigo
here, as if you keep scrolling down the cursor on the right of the screen, the digits keep coming....and coming....and coming. More (well, not really) below the flip....
It's actually very understandable that the million digits of Pi page on the Pi Day website just keeps going and doesn't seem to stop when you scroll down it. Think of it this way: let's assume that the average length of a word in English is 5 letters, for convenience. So 1,000,000 / 5 = 200,000, or one million "letters" (here, digits) translates to 200,000 words. For comparison, have a look at this page that compiles word counts for celebrated novels, which includes such examples as these (allowing for a bit of "statistical distribution around 200,000):
"196,774 – The Corrections – Franzen, Jonathan
197,517 – Stones from the River – Hegi, Ursula
198,227 – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K. Rowling
198,901 – A House for Mr. Biswas – V.S. Naipaul
206,052 – Moby Dick – Herman Melville
208,773 – Midnight's Children – Salman Rushdie"
So if you were actually to read all the digits on the 1 million digits of Pi page, you would almost have done the equivalent of reading
Moby Dick. The latter, however, might be marginally more interesting in terms of content for a general audience, unless you're really, really into 1 million numbers in succession. The Pi Day page does not, regarding the digits of Pi:
"As an irrational and transcendental number, it will continue infinitely without repetition or pattern."
Thus if you really want to continue past 1 million digits, you really must not have that much to do. Even 3CM the loser isn't that much of a dweeb (though in all other areas, yes, he is a loser). However, in fairness, the Pi Day page does note
here:
"Only 39 digits past the decimal are needed to accurately calculate the spherical volume of our entire universe, but because of Pi’s infinite & patternless nature, it’s a fun challenge to memorize, and to computationally calculate more and more digits."
Speaking of fun, the most famous local instance of Pi is
this local chain of pizzerias, which got a big thumbs up back in the fall of 2008 from the then-junior Senator from Illinois, as retro-diaried on DK
here, and noted by the Pi Pizza-masters of their universe on their website
here (although the telling somewhat scrambles history, since BHO wasn't POTUS just yet):
"Pi is a U.S. Presidential Favorite!
President Barack Obama first experienced Pi Pizzeria in October 2008, at an event under the St. Louis Gateway Arch. That’s pretty cool anyway…but we were blown away by what happened next. We got a call from the President himself [sic], who told us Pi was the best pizza he’d ever had. WOW.
In April 2009, we had the distinct honor and privilege to be invited to the White House to cook for the First Family. That made Pi Pizzeria the first restaurant to prepare food at the White House. We can still hardly believe it ourselves."
Pi Pizzeria has since expanded to four full-service restaurants in the STL area, plus one carryout only location, not to mention restaurants in Washington, DC (hmmm....) and Cincinnati. The Miami Beach one might be just in time for rising sea levels/global climate change to take it out, though. Still, business success is nice.
With that, feel free to share any π-themed stories, or otherwise partake of the standard SNLC protocol, namely your loser stories for the week.....