Honoring Pi with Pie
RHMS student Sabrina Pham getting a face full of pie on Pi Day.
Article by Kathy Dunker with photos courtesy of Amy Shanahan
As you may or may not remember, pi is defined as a mathematical constant whose value is the ratio of any circle’s circumference to its diameter. Pi is an unusual number since it cannot be expressed exactly as a fraction and its decimal representation never repeats.
Rocky Heights Middle School (RHMS) students celebrated Pi Day recently along with students all over the country. Pi Day is a day where math teachers celebrate the number Pi, 3.14159… This celebration usually takes place on 3/14 at 1:59 during the school day, but 3/14 fell on a Sunday this year so the celebration took place early.
As sixth grade math and science teacher David Weiss commented, “It is lots of fun and really helps the importance of the number sink in. From sixthgrade on, Pi will be a number students use in math often.”
The celebration included a memorization contest to see who could remember the most digits of Pi. There were also fun facts as Weiss stated, “Pi is used to find the area and circumference of circles, and pies are circles, hence we eat pie.” Pi Day is celebrated by math enthusiasts around the world. Promoting Pi Day at RHMS is a way to encourage learning through celebration and creativity.
While the sixth grade math teachers are hopeful that this celebration will lead to a richer classroom environment and a deeper appreciation of mathematics for their students, what the students may find the most impressive is getting the chance to eat plenty of pie on Pi Day. And that they did!
Rocky Height Middle Schooler Dillon explains PI
