# Happy PI Day 2021! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 14, 2021, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-pi-day-2021/937871 "2021-03-14T10:45:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-pi-day-2021/937871/1 "2021-03-14T10:45:34Z")
Yes, it is time (once again) to wish a Happy PI Day to all the folks at the Straight Dope Message Board!!! For those few people that may not have heard of PI Day, you may read all about it here: > **[Pi Day](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi_Day)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > > > Pi Day is an annual celebration of the mathematical constant π (pi). Pi Day is observed on March 14 (3/14 in the month/day format) since 3, 1, and 4 are the first three significant figures of π. It was founded in 1988 by Larry Shaw, an employee of the San Francisco, California science museum, the Exploratorium. Celebrations often involve eating pie or holding pi recitation competitions. In 2009, the United States House of Representatives suppo... ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-pi-day-2021/937871/2 "2021-03-14T11:30:02Z")
I plan on making key lime pi(e). Brian ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-pi-day-2021/937871/3 "2021-03-14T14:19:47Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > π Some years ago, while I was waiting for my flight at the airport in Hong Kong, I saw an interesting work of art: a rather large clear plexiglass π filled with apples. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-pi-day-2021/937871/4 "2021-03-14T14:29:57Z")
So would “The Pi Moment,” be midnight between today and tomorrow (3/14-15)? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-pi-day-2021/937871/5 "2021-03-14T16:24:29Z")
If I’m not mistaken, this is only the second time Daylight Saving Time began on Pi Day in the US. The first was in 2010, and the next will be in 2027. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-pi-day-2021/937871/6 "2021-03-14T16:31:12Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > Yes, it is time (once again) to wish a Happy PI Day to all the folks at the Straight Dope Message Board!!! - What goes around, comes around. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-pi-day-2021/937871/7 "2021-03-14T17:06:58Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > So would “The Pi Moment,” be midnight between today and tomorrow (3/14-15)? I assumed it would be at 3:09 this afternoon (nine minutes after 1500 hours): 3/14 159 I plan to have a drink. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-pi-day-2021/937871/8 "2021-03-14T18:18:56Z")
Excuse me for being remiss in posting these additional “PI Facts”: Albert Einstein was born on PI Day 1879. Sadly, the legendary physicist, Stephen Hawking passed away on PI Day 2018. and if you have an extreme need to know PI to 1,000 digits or 1,000,000 or more, here is a good link: [University of Exeter](http://newton.ex.ac.uk/research/qsystems/collabs/pi/) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-pi-day-2021/937871/9 "2021-03-14T18:40:41Z")
This snuck up on me, but it matters not due to the pandemic situation. Typically I make pi shaped candies in a mold I have for pi Day, but not worth the effort for just the two of us to stuff ourselves with extra sugar. Don’t know when I’d do it again really, I mainly took stuff like that to work where people knew what pi Day was but I’m retired now, and my wife may not need to go back to the office much even when the trouble is over. I’ll do them again for some reason or another, but I’ll miss pi Day at work. We had offices world wide and we’d compare the pi Day celebrations online using the latest in multi-media communication tools, sometimes. Usually though, people just took pictures on their phones. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-pi-day-2021/937871/10 "2021-03-14T18:41:25Z")
No, that’s tau day. Pi day just gets you there, it doesn’t bring you back to your starting location. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-pi-day-2021/937871/11 "2021-03-14T19:39:35Z")
Freshman year in college, my roommate and I were in room 314 of our dorm. We wanted to repaint the room number to add the decimal point and additional digits but this was shot down by university housing. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-pi-day-2021/937871/12 "2021-03-14T20:45:06Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > We wanted to repaint the room number to add the decimal point and additional digits but this was shot down by university housing. You asked? ---
**Author:** ![FastDan1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fastdan1/32/427_2.png) [@FastDan1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FastDan1)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-pi-day-2021/937871/13 "2021-03-14T21:32:08Z")
I celebrated on March 1st. I just round to tenths rather than hundredths. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-pi-day-2021/937871/14 "2021-03-14T22:11:57Z")
According to Marc Rayman of NASA, they only require a “mere” 15 decimal places of “pi” for their most accurate work. And to think that was a value of PI that was available in Ludolph Van Ceulen’s day. Ludolph (1540 - 1610) calculated PI to 20 decimal places in 1596 and then, in a paper published posthumously in 1615, had his calculation of PI to 35 decimal places! Gee, I think I should get out of my house more often!!! ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-pi-day-2021/937871/15 "2021-03-14T22:21:21Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > not worth the effort for just the two of us Yep. I’m single and I make a truly excellent fruit pie. But not worth the effort just for myself. I bought a slice at the nice grocery store (as opposed to the cheap grocery store). ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-pi-day-2021/937871/16 "2021-03-14T22:32:48Z")
Think of poor William Shanks who spent 15 years calculating pi to 707 places, but made a mistake in 528th digit, causing all subsequent digits to be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-pi-day-2021/937871/17 "2021-03-15T00:15:26Z")
I was on a solo road trip a few years ago, and noticed it was 3/14. So I google mapped “PIE” and, doublewin!, stopped at _Kate’s Piehole Records,_ half New & Used Vinyl Shop, half Pie Place. (oh, darn, looks like they’ve closed… well, I’ve still got the t-shirt… that says Sometimes You Just Need a Fuckin’ Piece of Pie) [![](https://i4.ypcdn.com/blob/4694c0025e4b783d117465ccb118aa580bf5901c_640.jpg) ](https://i4.ypcdn.com/blob/4694c0025e4b783d117465ccb118aa580bf5901c_640.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-pi-day-2021/937871/18 "2021-03-15T01:36:00Z")
I made the dutch apple I bought for Christmas and didn’t make. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-pi-day-2021/937871/19 "2021-03-15T02:48:22Z")
I just thought I’d mention my web page about pi, especially since William Shanks has been brought into the conversation. [https://www.1728.org/ludolph.htm](https://www.1728.org/ludolph.htm) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-pi-day-2021/937871/20 "2021-03-15T04:22:29Z")
And the current _Jeopardy!_ champion is Dave Pai, whose last name is pronounced “Pi.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-pi-day-2021/937871.md?page=2)