Today I learned from my 13-year-old daughter that it is Pi Day celebrated every March 14 - 3/14 - 3.14 - commemorating the mathematical constant pi = 3.14159265+. Pi represents the relationship between a circle's diameter (its width) and its circumference (the distance around the circle).
I was not aware that there was such a special day but I hear it is very popular among mathematicians and kids in middle school. In fact it was created by Larry Shaw, a physicist, at the San Francisco Exploratorium back in 1989. Can you imagine the celebration in 2015 when the date will be 3.14.15? It's going to be crazy fun.
I watched my daughter Nell and her friend Carly make this cake using fondant to finish it off. I asked her why a cake and not a pie and she explained one of the boys was already making a pie for the class and she was asked to make a cake. Good to see the boys are baking in middle school.
Some interesting facts about Pi Day from Wikipedia
- On Pi Day 2004, Daniel Tammet recited 22,514 decimal digits of π.
- On March 12, 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a non-binding resolution (HRES 224),recognizing March 14, 2009, as National Pi Day.
- For Pi Day 2010, Google presented a Google Doodle celebrating the holiday, with the word Google laid over images of circles and pi symbols.
- The Massachusetts Institute of Technology often mails its application decision letters to prospective students for delivery on Pi Day.
- Pi has been calculated to over 1 trillion digits past the decimal.
Pie Recipes
If you are inclined to prepare a pie today, here are some of my favorite pie recipes on The Reluctant Gourmet:
- Key Lime Pie - my all time favorite
- Classic Creamy Pumpkin Pie
- Simple Pecan Pie
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