Austin, TX (PRWEB) March 14, 2014
In 2009, the U.S. House declared National Pi Day as a way for schools and the public to focus on math and science in a fun, innovative, and approachable way. Of course, it also involves eating pie.
Through its promotion of National Pi Day, piZone.org seeks to promote to the public the importance of a strong STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education as a vehicle that inspires future innovation.
Why Pi? What is National Pi Day?
Beloved worldwide, pi is simply the irrational number π = 3.14… It is used to calculate the circumference of a circle – any circle – among a multitude of other applications in math, physics, and engineering.
piZone’s pi-ed piper, Alex Filippenko, astrophysicist at the University of California, Berkeley, and National Professor of the Year (2006) says “Pi Day will spark interest in learning, thus helping to create an educated workforce which will utilize technologies to drive innovation, and ultimately to provide a better life for all of us”
No longer reserved only for the geek culture, pi is an excellent way to inspire wonder. Learning the first 10 digits is, well, as easy as pi (3.141592653). A simple mnemonic of just counting the letters in the words in this sentence, “Wow, I made a short memorable pi string, could you?” is a great way to keep pi in mind.
It's interesting to note that we currently know over 10 trillion digits of pi. The number of digits is still growing, and it will never end, since pi is an irrational number. Some questions about pi, such as whether all digits 0 through 9 appear equally frequently on average, have not yet been answered. Learning about pi provides an excellent way to spark interest in math and science among students and the general public.
The team at piZone.org works to remind us that math and science are present extensively in our everyday lives. All technology, from the wheel to the Smart Phone to GPS, utilizes physical laws that are described in terms of mathematics.
Beyond being just a number, pi can also be an expression of art, dance, music, and writing. When learning is informative, entertaining, and sensory, it encodes more efficiently and effectively into the participant’s brain. When learning is fun and engaging, it sparks curiosity and a desire to discover, explore, and question.
The ability to think critically is essential to people living in our high-tech world.
piZone at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival and Conference:
piZone will distribute colorful stickers to inspire thought and engagement with different pi sayings on them. These will spark curiosity in participants, who will seek out others to see what their stickers say. Participants are encouraged to share their pi-experience via posts, tweets, images, and videos. This event is fondly called, SπSW
Follow @piZone_dot_org on twitter, or simply tweet or facebook with the hashtag #piday to join the fun. The piZone.org site also has a fantastic collection of Pi Products (pi-raphenalia) and interactive games for you to make pi and STEM part of your day, each day throughout the year.
About piZone:
As a crowd-source resource for all things related to pi, education, and public outreach, piZone.org strives to touch lives and spark interest in math and science. With piZone’s “Pi it Forward” program, three dollars and fourteen cents of every t-shirt sale goes to supporting the effort to bring more pi to the classroom, giving educators t-shirts and resources to share pi with all.
For updates and the latest images on pi, follow us here:
Web: http://www.piZone.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/piZone_dot_org
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