Pi to 100 Places (#100)

3.1415926535 8979323846 2643383279 5028841971 6939937510 5820974944 5923078164 0628620899 8628034825 3421170679 ...

π π π π π π π

How can a number be unreasonable?

I mean, it feels unreasonable - never repeating, never ending.

I mean, you’ll wear out before it does.

Oh.

You don’t mean that it’s lacking in logic, or that it doesn’t make any sense. You mean it’s not something that can be represented by a ratio, i.e., that it’s not rational.

Irrational.

Yes. The word doesn’t mean irrational as not reasonable or not logical. It means not rational, i.e. not capable of being expressed as a ratio of integers… Irrational numbers, not irrational minds. Context matters.
Wes Browning, Response on the Q&A Site Quora, 2020.¹

Okay, Wes. 🙄

But I’m not sure I can live with such a staid description of something that never repeats. So I scroll down further in the thesaurus for the word “irrational”, and come across a related word: “wild”.

That feels more apropos. A number that doesn’t repeat cannot fit in a box. It overflows. It cannot be tamed.²

π π π π π π

What also cannot be tamed is my affection towards a) science, b) science holidays and c) baked goods.

I’ve celebrated Pi Day - 3.14 or March 14 - most years over the past decade³. I don’t know why, except it’s an excuse to make (and eat) pies, and I take delight in the absurd.⁴ So when I saw how today’s post landed on Pi Day AND was my 100th post - well, I needed to fully lean into the absurdity.

With 100 (miniature) pies.

Bleary-eyed madness upon finishing the 100 pies. (Photo: Bryn Robinson, 2024)

From left to right: Strawberry-rhubarb, cherry (little cut-out man on top), vanilla custard (chocolate sprinkles on meringue), lemon meringue, apple. (Photo: Bryn Robinson, 2024)

Strawberry and cherry pies were canned fillings and store-bought tart shells; the rest was made by yours truly, thanks to the Joy of Cooking tome. (Photo: Bryn Robinson, 2024)

Apple pies before entering the oven. (Photo: Bryn Robinson, 2024)

I wish I could share these with you all⁵, but hope that you are all sourcing your own circular pastries to enjoy. (Let me know if you’re celebrating this most auspicious holiday - what kind of pie are you making/buying and eating?)

Instead, I can only raise a tiny pie virtually to celebrate YOU all for joining me around the Campfire for 100 weeks of posts. Your support is greatly appreciated, and I’ve loved meeting you over the past two years.

I’m looking forward to 100 more posts, and continuing to grow this irrational wild love of science, art, and writing, with you all.

Thank you ❤🥧 π

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This Week in SciArt

Cool science engagement example incoming: Behold, the poster for NASA’s Pi Day problem solving challenge, where they ask students to share their solutions to this year’s crop of word problems featuring π. (Even better, this year features cats with lasers!)

Burning Questions?

Speaking of wild and untamed math, here’s a wonderful example of performance as both art and engagement. One of the websites that I reference above with “proof” that pi is an irrational number wants all your math and physics questions.

Although they haven’t published a response to a question since 2021, the creators of this website invited people to email their burning math questions - when they weren’t popping up to host Q&As in public locations, of course.

Completely disarming and wholly approachable. More of this in science, please.

Talk about opening minds: This particular “Ask a Mathematician” pop-up event was hosted at Burning Man. (Photo: Ask a Mathematician, n.d.)

Leftover Pi

If you’re still hungry for pi, have a taste of the poem I wrote for the occasion last year.

#49: Thirty-Nine Places

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1. When you read the originating question on Quora - which includes a delightfully absurd demand to rename irrational numbers “vampire rationals” - this response (albeit totally correct) comes across a bit tetchy.

2. I’m not a mathematician and so defer to those with said expertise, such as this “simple” proof by Niven (1946) and this longer explanation by Ask a Mathematician/Ask a Physicist (2013). Reading both requires strong constitutions, mind you. Better have some pie first.

3. Which, more or less, coincidentally overlaps with my relationship with Ben. So we know where to lay the blame/praise.

4. Says the person who stayed up late to tape reruns of Monty Python’s Flying Circus on PBS.

5. Although Ben and The Boy would likely protest.