The numerical term pi is used in everyday math whether at school, home, or work. Almost every student is required to know what this infinite-digit number is and how it is used. Pi Day, March 14, honors the number pi, 3.14(…).
“Pi represents the ratio of the circumference of a circle compared to the circle’s diameter. In other words, the circumference is roughly equal to three times the diameter,” said Kumon Math and Reading Center instructor Kerman Kwok.
Pi Day was first founded at the San Francisco Exploratorium by Larry Shaw in 1988. However, Pi Day was not made an official national holiday until 2009 by the House of Representatives to encourage “schools and educators to observe the day with appropriate activities that teach students about Pi and engage them about the study of mathematics,” according to Time. This year’s Pi Day was the 30th annual Pi Day, according to the official Exploratorium website.
A popular way to celebrate this national holiday is eating pie. Many different companies and stores participate in celebrating Pi Day by embracing the consumption of pie.
“We, in the retail business, always try to create excitement or look for opportunities for promotion. We started celebrating Pi Day because one of our stores decided to do it one day, and then it went to the regional levels. We have promotional baked pies, and we also have pizza pies as well,” said John Dugery, associate store team leader at Whole Foods Markets in Redwood City.
Supermarkets like Whole Foods Markets held a special sale in celebration of Pi Day. Pies and pizzas at Whole Foods were 3.14 dollars off, enticing customers to celebrate the importance of pi.
“We like to do promotion days with the traditional holidays but sometimes will do special days, especially because of the fun of the pun. It’s just having some fun in selling our items and creating excitement,” said Dugery.
Another popular discount on Pi Day was at Pieology Pizzeria. Pieology sold create-your-own pizzas for 3.14 dollars.
“The day so far since we opened has been nonstop. We started prepping up a day before and getting ready for that. We staffed up pretty well for it but we had to call a few extra people to help out,” said Pieology General Manager Raul Valdez to KEYC News.
Not only did restaurants and stores market Pi Day, but local libraries held events for teens. For example, the Redwood City Library hosted a teen event from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. to celebrate Pi Day. They had activities involving pi, games, and pie to share.
The Exploratorium in San Francisco held an annual free Pi Day admission to the museum where people learned about the history of pi and enjoyed eating pie too.
Pi Day encourages people of all ages and levels of math to become more involved in the study of arithmetic.
Freshman Mia Craig said, “Pi Day is the only day math is fun. We should have Pi Day every day!”
