Editorial

Pi Day, weekend has unique twist this year

Saturday is Pi Day, a date that has a numeral connection (3/14) to the mathematical symbol (3.14).

For school groups, the day can be used as a learning experience. How many decimal places can you remember (3.1415 ...)?

But this year has something unique for math enthusiasts. The number 3.1415 corresponds with the full date (3/14/15). A story by reporter Katie Lamb highlighted that this will not happen again for 100 years.

If you want to take it even further, there are people on Saturday who will be excited at 9:26:53 a.m. This adds another five decimal places to the never-ending number.

Of course the logical connect on Pi Day is to celebrate it with the dessert -- pie.

Students at Cape Girardeau Central High School have an opportunity today to participate in two Pi Day activities. During lunch, students can compete to see who can list the most digits. Math teacher Tracy Lohmeier said one student made it all the way to 150 digits in 2014.

Students also can dress like their favorite mathematician from the past or present. That includes math teachers at Central High.

We get it. Not everyone gets overly excited about Pi Day. But it is unique and an opportunity for those in school to learn fun facts about the mathematical phenomenon.

Happy Pi Day.

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