A Long Day's Journey into Pi

On March 14, 2007 a group of the most bizarre and unique characters will gather around the country on their yearly quest to remember the sacred pi. In memory of the number we all used in high school geometry will be remembered on the date of 3.14. The only reason why people love this number is because mathematicians have never found an end or any repeating sections

Pi was believed to have first be used by the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians because of its constant ratio and estimated it to be 3.125. The symbol of wasn't given until 1706 by William Jones because represents "p" in Greek and "p" is perimeter in mathematics. Jones also discovered that with no repetition pi was infinite and began his life's journey into understanding it.

Over the decades some have become so obsessed that they hold contest of sheer memory to prove who can recite the consecutive digits of pi. The Guinness book currently gives the record to Chinese chemistry student Chao Lu and his rote memorization of 67,890 digits over 24 hours in 2005. Akira Haraguchi of Japan says that this is not an obsession but "seeking a story in pi."

The pi search has gone so far as to appear on YouTube and other sites where people sit recite the digits in some unique ways. Others like Marc Umile became harmonic and recorded 1,000 digit intervals at varying pitches and created an "aria" to pi, a project lasting over two years Others write poems, better know as "piems" to the greatest of all numbers in hopes to elevate its status in the world. Others notice the appearance of pi in the beginnings of Poe's work "The Raven" and some works of T.S. Elliot. Mike Keith passed on his love the ratio to his daughter who can currently recite the first fifty digits and keeps learning more everyday.

Students at MIT hope to one day get school officials to declare March 14 of each year Pi Day and let math intellectuals everywhere have their day in the sun. Officials at MIT don't see the relative need for a Pi Day but are looking into the possibility of having some event in honor of number. So before you begin celebrating Saint Patrick's Day on March 15 take a moment on March 14 at 1:59 p.m. to remember pi and the contributions to the world around us.