Every year, math nerds and dessert enthusiasts unite to celebrate Pi Day on March 14, a date whose digits represent the first three digits of the mathematical constant pi. The holiday was created in 1988 by Larry Shaw, a physicist at the Exploratorium science museum in San Francisco.
Justice Department charges man accused of selling gun to Old Dominion University shooterState Department slashes fee to renounce US citizenship by 80% to $450Big 12 ditching slippery glass floor for hardwood for rest of tournamentAP Entertainment WireJudge quashes subpoenas in Justice Department's investigation of Fed chair Jerome PowellOtters enjoy a snow day in Maryland during winter stormSome people tape their mouths shut at night.
Doctors wish they wouldn'tAfter an Iranian drone strike, a photographer captures this quiet human momentUS forecasts blizzard, polar vortex, heat dome and atmospheric river all at onceFlu vaccines didn't work that well in the US, officials findChallenging your brain helps keep it healthy. Here's how to do itRage, suspicion, fear: Why Laurel’s residents want to stop a new state psychiatric facilityPhotos show the dramatic dawn flight of migrating snow geeseWhat to know about Reform Judaism after an attack on one of its largest US synagoguesTrump says US ‘obliterated’ military targets on Iran’s Kharg Island Doctors wish they wouldn'tAfter an Iranian drone strike, a photographer captures this quiet human momentUS forecasts blizzard, polar vortex, heat dome and atmospheric river all at onceFlu vaccines didn't work that well in the US, officials findChallenging your brain helps keep it healthy. Here's how to do itRage, suspicion, fear: Why Laurel’s residents want to stop a new state psychiatric facilityPhotos show the dramatic dawn flight of migrating snow geeseWhat to know about Reform Judaism after an attack on one of its largest US synagoguesIn this photo made with a long exposure, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with four private citizens onboard, lifts off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A, Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. LOS ANGELES — Math nerds and dessert enthusiasts unite to celebrate Pi Day every March 14, the date that represents the first three digits of the mathematical constant pi. Representing the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, pi is approximately equal to 3.14159 — but its digits go on forever. In school, you might have used it to calculate the area of a circle or the volume of a cylinder. But the applications of pi are endless and part of every corner of our world. The holiday was created in 1988 by Larry Shaw, a physicist at the Exploratorium science museum in San Francisco. “He had a very open and expansive view of the world and saw an opportunity with this number, mathematical concept, to invite people into the joy of mathematical learning,” said Sam Sharkland, program director of public programs at the museum, who worked with Shaw before he died in 2017. While it began as a small staff celebration featuring pie, it soon turned into a grand procession where hundreds of visitors marched around the pi shrine, each carrying a digit. Attendees often show up early to claim their favorite digit for the parade. One woman who has the symbol tattooed on her neck comes every year and marches near the front with a pi flag, Sharkland said.In Artur Davoyan’s field of mechanical and aerospace engineering, pi is so fundamental that it would be hard to pinpoint one use case for it, he said. Pi is part of “literally every single formula that you would use to do any calculation, like for spacecraft motion, for materials and how they work, or propulsion systems,” said Davoyan, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. Anything that is round or has cyclical or repeating properties — such as radio waves — involves pi. Even squares or irregular blobs can be broken down into a series of progressively smaller circles and calculated using pi, Davoyan said. Davoyan’s research looks at how to create new propulsion systems to send spacecrafts more quickly to the far reaches of the solar system to gather and send back information to Earth. He pointed to NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2, which launched in 1977 but didn’t reach interstellar space until 2012 and 2018. To send a signal to those space probes, NASA must calculate Earth’s exact position in orbit around the sun and design antennas for communication using pi. Then scientists use pi once more when receiving and breaking down complex signals that are being beamed back to Earth. “Say aliens send something to us, something that we don’t know how to deal with,” Davoyan said. “So the very first thing that you would do, you would try to split it into simple functions... and turns out that when you do this operation, you will naturally have pis in it.”Dino Di Carlo, chair of the bioengineering department at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, conducts research that involves creating little particles out of polymers that act as tiny test tubes for cells. This is used as an important tool to examine cells closely and learn about their functions and what’s inside them. The pi constant is used in calculating how to form those droplets, surface tension calculations that define how droplets can break up, and how researchers can control the size of those volumes, Di Carlo said. Di Carlo is using this technique to find antibodies — small proteins that fight diseases in your body — that could block signals put out by cancer cells. Pi is also an important part of calculations when looking at how liquids flow through tubes and barriers. One example is when the fluid sample slowly flows sideways in a take-home COVID-19 test. Di Carlo used these properties to devise a new test for Lyme disease that can be completed in 20 minutes, rather than days or weeks like previously. “As an engineer and scientist, is just a part of life,” Di Carlo said. “Maybe I’ve taken it for granted.”Ding covers California breaking news for The Associated Press. She focuses on law enforcement and the courts, and is based in Los Angeles.
Mathematics Cancer General News Domestic News California San Francisco Technology Planets Physics U.S. News Space Exploration Sam Sharkland Science Spacecraft Artur Davoyan Medical Research Aerospace Technology U.S. News
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Here’s what to eat to sleep a little better every dayChamomile tea and warm milk have long been associated with better sleep. But your overall dietary habits, what you eat and when, can have a profound effect on sleep quality as well.
Read more »
Things to do in the Dallas-Fort Worth arts world, from March 13-March 19, 2026Here’s a list of performances and exhibitions across Dallas-Fort Worth from March 13 through March 19.
Read more »
Pi Day 2026: Bay Area pizza, pie deals for Saturday, March 14Do the math! On this day devoted to 3.14, diners can savor savings
Read more »
Here’s what to eat every day to sleep a little betterCan’t sleep? While there aren’t any magic fixes, these eating patterns, over time, should help.
Read more »
St. Patrick’s Day: Big Bay Area events start early, March 14Parades in Dublin, San Francisco lead the list of festivities.
Read more »
Xbox Game Pass Gets Surprise New Day One Release For MarchGamePass title for Super Meat Boy 3D
Read more »