Pi Day 2024 - International Day of Mathematics

About Pi Day 2024 (International Day of Mathematics)

• International Day of Mathematics, or Pi Day, is celebrated on March 14 every year to recognize the mathematical constant, Pi.
• The day is celebrated by mathematics enthusiasts and educators worldwide to recognize and appreciate the significance of mathematics in our lives.
• The theme of International Day of Mathematics 2024 is 'Playing with Math'.

Why March 14?

• The approximate value of Pi is 3.14.
• The date, when written in the format of month/day (3/14), matches the first three digits of the mathematical constant.

History of Pi Day

• The first Pi Day was celebrated in 1988 by physicist Larry Shaw at the San Francisco Exploratorium.
• In 2009, the United States House of Representatives designated March 14 as Pi Day.
• UNESCO marked Pi Day as the ‘International Day of Mathematics' during its general conference in 2019.
• Mathematician and physicist Albert Einstein, known for the "General Theory Of Relativity," was born on Pi Day in 1879.

What is Pi (π)?

• Pi is a mathematical constant that represents the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. 
• It is an infinitely long, irrational number, and its exact value cannot be known.
• Pi is roughly equal to 3.14, or 22/7.
• History:
  • Pi has been known for nearly 4,000 years and was discovered by the ancient Babylonians.
  • One of the first calculations of pi was carried out by Greek mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse (287 B.C. to 212 B.C.).
  • It also has a symbol, ‘π.’ The symbol π was devised by British mathematician William Jones in 1706.
• Applications: It is used in a wide variety of mathematical and scientific calculations, including geometry, trigonometry, calculus, and more.

Q1) What is the International Mathematical Union (IMU)?

IMU was founded in 1920 and has existed in its current form since 1951. It is an international non-governmental and non-profit scientific organization, with the purpose of promoting international cooperation in mathematics, supporting and assisting the International Congress of Mathematicians, which is organized every four years, and other international scientific meetings or conferences, and encouraging and supporting international mathematical activities considered likely to contribute to the development of mathematical science in any of its aspects, pure, applied, or educational. Legally, IMU is an unincorporated association, recognized as a charitable organization in Germany.