3.14159

Happy Pi Day! Of all the holidays celebrated on the 14^th of a month, Pi Day is the best. What is so special about pi day? If you’re reading this, I expect you are well aware of the great significance of pi, but in case you’re not mathematically inclined, it is 3.14159..., which happens to be the ratio between the circumference and the diameter of a circle. Is pi where pie the dessert got its name or is it the other way around? Or is it just a coincidence? Hmm.


For any literature enthusiasts who are mathematically challenged who might be reading this, perhaps the first thing you think about when you see “Pi” is Piscine Molitor Patel, the protagonist in Canadian author Martel Yann’s book “Life of Pi”. This does happen to be among my favorite books, but it has nothing to do with 3.14 or the pie dessert. It’s about an Indian boy, who happens to be named after a pool surviving 227 days on a lifeboat. He and his family were in the process of moving from India to Canada.