Why is Pi Day celebrated on March 14th? There’s no such thing as an irrational question
Every year, Pi Day is a huge deal — especially if you work in a school or go to one. Who doesn’t have endless memories of your math teacher getting super excited on March 14th? But if it’s been awhile since then, you might have a few questions, like “Why is Pi Day celebrated on March 14th?” Let us jog your memory, because it’s actually really easy to remember.
Pi is called an irrational number because it contains a multitude of digits that go off into infinity — it’s a non-repeating pattern. This number literally never ends…at least, not that we’ve discovered yet. So for now, we simplify it as 3.14, sometimes as 3.14159.
That means that, technically, saying that Pi is 3.14 is an oversimplification, but being that our calendar isn’t infinite (aka it stops and starts over every year), you’d never be able to find a holiday that corresponded with the date of the actual known digits of Pi. And honestly, what fun would that be? So March 14th it is.
And according to Time And Date, Pi Day is actually a relatively new holiday.
Pi Day began in 1998, thanks to a physicist named Larry Shaw. And here’s a fun fact you might not already know: There’s also Pi Approximation Day, which falls on July 22nd, since 7/22 is the approximation of what Pi would be as a fraction. Pretty neat!
Even if you’re no longer in school (and don’t work in a math or science field), you can still celebrate Pi Day. If you wanna share fun Pi Day memes, think about how bad you were at math —t rust us, you’re not the only one — or enjoy a slice of pie in honor of the holiday, go ahead. After all, it only comes around once a year.