When we were young, the magic of March 14th meant something exciting in school: eating pie in class instead of doing math. Each year, Pi day – celebrating one of mathematics’s most unique constants – comes and goes, with many students often neglecting what seems to be its vague but central idea. However, as we grow and start to apply pi in Algebra and Calculus math classes, more and more, we start to understand why. Pi, being a non-repeating, random, infinite number, challenges us to think beyond the classroom when it comes to math. Literally representing the never-changing ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, Pi serves not only as a number, but a reason for discovery.
Around 250 BC, Greek mathematician Archimedes built upon previous knowledge when attempting to calculate the area of a circle. Unable to employ the formula we now use today, A= πr², Archimedes turned to the even older discovery, Pythagorean theorem, to calculate the circle’s circumference . From there, he was able to discover the sides, and perimeter of two squares: one inscribed within the circle and one for which the circle was circumscribed within. By finding their perimeters, Archimedes made a limit for which the value of pi could exist between.
And while mathematicians have long expanded upon Archimedes’ discovery over the course of history by more closely approximating the value of pi, even today only 105 trillion digits are known. That is to say that while “only 105 trillion digits” may sound like an oxymoron, in the grand scheme of things, such a value is nowhere close to infinity – which in many ways is the cornerstone of mathematics itself – and is in many ways the cornerstone of nature and the universe itself.
But enough with this complexity, because as former math teacher and current Librarian Jennifer Frugalletti puts it, “Math is discovering how the world really works. You’re actually figuring out nature. And I think that learning math, whether you’re interested in going into that kind of field or not, teaches you to be a good problem solver in every area of your life.”
While it can be hard to grasp these often out-of-reach and futile concepts being studied upon by elite intellectuals, Math, at the end of the day, is really the best of both worlds. As veteran Math Teacher Petro Petreas said “A lot of the math you learn, you’ll definitely use later in college or in real life. But let’s be honest, most of what we teach you, you’re probably not going to use in your day to day life when you’re walking down the street.” He finds that what makes math so integral to students is that “[Math] helps your brain, just in the way you think. For instance, I hate geometry, but I do think there’s something to writing a proof, because it’s sort of like a way of thinking.”
On the other side of the practicality of math as a tool to exercise thinking, is the insane but simultaneously mesmerizing concepts students rarely get the chance to explore in school. Frugaletti spoke about a recent fascination she took to prime numbers after she started watching an HBO show detailing their insane history. “The interesting thing with prime numbers is that there is no pattern to how you arrive at them. A lot of people believe that there is and if they can figure it out, it actually will cause a total disruption in the world, because the use of your prime numbers is how they deal with all cryptocurrency, security measures, and encoding. It’s all within the use of primes.”
Petreas expressed similar interest with the idea of irrational numbers, stating that “There are way more irrational than rational numbers… So if I say like how many whole numbers are there versus how many fractions are there, it’s the same. But if I ask you, how many irrational numbers there are, such as pi or e, there are infinitely more, which should blow your mind.”
In an increasingly modern world filled with the incessant use of AI and the internet, mathematics blends the boundless possibilities of the future with the grounding state of the present. It’s not only a roadmap to discovery, but a timeless code to facets of our universe.
But because we’ve been learning Math since kindergarten, it can be difficult to truly experience all of these excitements that the subject has to offer. In school, we’re taught that math consists only of taking notes in class, doing homework based on those notes, and then taking a test to finish up the current chapter of what can feel like a never-ending book of useless skills. To combat this reputation, Frugaletti explains, “I think more time really needs to be spent on the basics. Oftentimes,we get too spread out in what we’re teaching and the breadth of the amount of things that we need to learn. If we really narrowed it down and said ‘We really need to learn this’, not only can you learn all your memorization and all of your facts, but really get into the deep depths of why it works and how it works.”
Petreas added, “I think we don’t do a great job of finding real life applications and that when we do, often they’re really difficult. I also think having 90 minutes of math is a terrible idea, and I’ve been saying that for years, but the district has not listened. It would be much better to have 45 minutes every day than 90 minute periods every other day.”
So, this pi day, while you’re gobbling down a slice of some delicious apple pie, take a second to just think about something a bit more complex. In an age where we can often feel rushed by the demands of highschool and hypnotized by the blinding stimulation that is social media, math gives us something to be thankful for. Even if we have yet to tame infinity, we have pi, we know the golden ratio, and we can code our own computers. Math is enthralling not just because of its superficial intricacy, but because it’s a tool uniquely for humanity to use – something that’s arguably much more magical.
