Rockmore: Happy Pi Day!

March 14 gave Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science Daniel Rockmore reason to celebrate. “Happy pi day one and all, or maybe I should say three and a little…,” he said to listeners of VPR’s Commentary Series.

Rockmore shares facts and tidbits about the number pi, which begins with the expansion 3.14 and goes on forever. He says, “The digits roll out, going on and on, and if you’re willing to resort to a machine, then the current record for computing digits of pi on your home computer is 5 trillion digits!”

Rockmore also explains the universal nature of pi. He says, “Take any circle anywhere, your dinner dishes, the hubcap on your car, or our perfectly crafted pizza pie, then the ratio of its circumference to its diameter is always the number pi! You might say that pi is all around us.”

Listen to the full story here, broadcast 3/14/12 on VPR’s Commentary Series