Will You Celebrate the Ultimate Pi Moment Tomorrow?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the celebration of Pi Day, particularly focusing on the significance of specific dates and times that align with the digits of pi. Participants explore the cultural implications of Pi Day, alternative celebrations, and the mathematical nuances of defining "Pi moments." The scope includes theoretical musings, cultural commentary, and playful banter related to the observance of Pi Day.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Mathematical reasoning

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express excitement about the upcoming Pi Day on 3.14.15, suggesting setting alarms for the exact moment.
  • Others note that Pi Day is not recognized in the UK and propose it should be made a national holiday.
  • A participant suggests that the ultimate Pi moment might actually be in 2016, based on rounding rules for pi.
  • There is a humorous suggestion that celebrations should involve round foods, particularly in reference to the shape of pies.
  • One participant proposes that an instantaneous moment exists where time aligns perfectly with pi, questioning the nature of such a moment.
  • Another participant reflects on the historical significance of previous dates, particularly March 14, 1592, as a notable Pi moment.
  • Philosophical questions arise regarding whether mathematics is a pure science or influenced by human perception and the nature of time.
  • Some participants advocate for celebrating Tau Day instead of Pi Day, suggesting alternative mathematical constants.
  • There are corrections and clarifications regarding the dates and times mentioned, including a humorous acknowledgment of an error in a future date calculation.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the significance of specific Pi moments or the best way to celebrate Pi Day. Multiple competing views are presented regarding the importance of different dates and the nature of mathematical constants.

Contextual Notes

Participants express uncertainty regarding the definitions and implications of "Pi moments," and there are unresolved questions about the philosophical nature of mathematics in relation to time and measurement.

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On 3.14.15 at 9:26:53

3.141592653

Set your alarms!
 
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Greg, you are very strange :smile:
 
We don't get a pi day in the UK :frown:
 
sk1105 said:
We don't get a pi day in the UK :frown:
Start a movement! I'm calling for it to be a national holiday!
 
Greg Bernhardt said:
Start a movement! I'm calling for it to be a national holiday!

But there's no April 31. :\ Best you can do is 22/7.
 
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Greg Bernhardt said:
On 3.14.15 at 9:26:53

3.141592653

Set your alarms!
Awesome!

Already set! With AM and PM there is twice the chance!
 
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Since the next digit after the 5 is a 9 won't the proper approximation be 3.1416? So won't the ultimate Pi moment come in 2016? I guess we could celebrate both years, why not :-p
 
You know what you have to eat to celebrate, don't you. It better be a round one...

I'm also in the UK. :(
 
And people around here, guess what is the speciality about next day after this day celebration?
 
  • #10
Actually if you consider milliseconds etc between the 53 and 54th second there will be an instantaneous moment in time tomorrow at which we exactly equal pi. Instant pi? No thanks, give me a slice.
 
  • #11
I really have a headache trying to think what is going on with a PI day via what people discus here,

I'm not flying out of here any time soon. So I will try again and again. Have a nice weekend everyone!
 
  • #12
3/14/15 was 2000 years ago.
 
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  • #13
we should celebrate tau day instead

 
  • #14
Next PI Day is,
(20)31 April 15
 
  • #15
Your holiday lasts exactly one second :< And now you have to wait another 100 years for another chance :/
 
  • #16
Poor e.
 
  • #17
We can celebrate e-day in July (2.7.) and January (27.1.), using the correct date format.
2.7.18 is in three years.
 
  • #18
Ben Niehoff said:
But there's no April 31. :\ Best you can do is 22/7.
According to one website, as April 31 is purely imaginary, it is [itex]i[/itex]-day!
 
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  • #19
You celebrate it at midnight between April 30 and May 1 (a public holiday in many countries!)?
 
  • #20
DrGreg said:
According to one website, as April 31 is purely imaginary, it is [itex]i[/itex]-day!
And since [itex]e^{i\pi}=-1[/itex]we can celebrate on the day before! April 30th it is!
 
Last edited:
  • #21
[itex]e^{i\pi} = -1[/itex] you mean :)
 
  • #22
nuuskur said:
[itex]e^{i\pi} = -1[/itex] you mean :)
That's what I wrote.

<Wanders off, whistling innocently>

:oops:
 
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  • #23
mfb said:
We can celebrate e-day in July (2.7.) and January (27.1.), using the correct date format.
2.7.18 is in three years.

I think e deserves it.

Many numbers do stand on its shoulder.
 
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  • #24
We hear of yesterday being the ultimate Pi moment but as someone noted above 3/14/15 was 2000 years ago. I would submit that the ultimate Pi moment occurred on:

March 14, 1592 with Pi moments at 6:53:58.xxx... AM and PM.

Note: this is using a standard 12 hour digital watch display format ( _h:mm:ss.xxx...) allowing 1 digit hours from 0 to 9 and two digit for 10 to 12, but insisting on two digit minutes and seconds. With decimal fraction on the seconds, you can take .xxx..., the actual moment out to an accuracy approaching a jiffy if so desired (Planck time of about 5.4 × 10−44 Seconds).

Another somewhat ultimate Pi day will be:

March 14, 15926 with Pi minutes at 5:35 AM and PM. The format using dual digit seconds would exceeds 59, ergo the smallest interval is minutes.

The next year that we can attain the same accuracy level of accuracy (seconds) as 1592 and thus a moment is:

March 14, 159,265,389,793 2:38:46 AM & PM. Quite a bit into the future.

We really missed the boat by not being around in 1592. Note I didn't try any BCE dates.

Now a question for the much smarter than I. Is mathematics a pure science or is it corrupted by our 4 dimensional space-time (if not our human brains)? The essence being here, because Pi is a never ending decimal, will the Pi moment be an infinite string of numbers or will it end at some increment slightly before the jiffy. My understanding (quite limited) is that the jiffy is the shortest time interval in our universe, any thing shorter you are in the quantum foam. I suppose we could have an infinitely short theoretical Pi moment and and a discrete actual physical Pi moment. The philosophical quandary here being, can we actually have a Pi moment or are we limited to something that approaches a Pi moment. 10^-44 is quite a long moment compared to an infinite negative exponent. I doubt I will lose any sleep pondering this tonight.
 
  • #25
this was a pretty good pi moment. not my pic or else I'd put it in the pi day photo thread. & it would probably win :-p

15.jpg


http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-best-pi-day-pies-and-celebrations/
 
  • #26
Sextant said:
We hear of yesterday being the ultimate Pi moment but as someone noted above 3/14/15 was 2000 years ago. I would submit that the ultimate Pi moment occurred on:

March 14, 1592 with Pi moments at 6:53:58.xxx... AM and PM.

Note: this is using a standard 12 hour digital watch display format ( _h:mm:ss.xxx...) allowing 1 digit hours from 0 to 9 and two digit for 10 to 12, but insisting on two digit minutes and seconds. With decimal fraction on the seconds, you can take .xxx..., the actual moment out to an accuracy approaching a jiffy if so desired (Planck time of about 5.4 × 10−44 Seconds).

Another somewhat ultimate Pi day will be:

March 14, 15926 with Pi minutes at 5:35 AM and PM. The format using dual digit seconds would exceeds 59, ergo the smallest interval is minutes.

The next year that we can attain the same accuracy level of accuracy (seconds) as 1592 and thus a moment is:

March 14, 159,265,389,793 2:38:46 AM & PM. Quite a bit into the future.

We really missed the boat by not being around in 1592. Note I didn't try any BCE dates.

Now a question for the much smarter than I. Is mathematics a pure science or is it corrupted by our 4 dimensional space-time (if not our human brains)? The essence being here, because Pi is a never ending decimal, will the Pi moment be an infinite string of numbers or will it end at some increment slightly before the jiffy. My understanding (quite limited) is that the jiffy is the shortest time interval in our universe, any thing shorter you are in the quantum foam. I suppose we could have an infinitely short theoretical Pi moment and and a discrete actual physical Pi moment. The philosophical quandary here being, can we actually have a Pi moment or are we limited to something that approaches a Pi moment. 10^-44 is quite a long moment compared to an infinite negative exponent. I doubt I will lose any sleep pondering this tonight.


EDIT 3/20/15, ERROR CORRECTION:
On the last date in the above post, at 159 billion years in the future, incredibly I somehow missed a digit in the original post. How exactly I did that when I copied an pasted the number is beyond me. I must of inadvertently deleted a digit when I put the commas in. In any event the date has been corrected below in bold. It was only 1.433 trillion year error. March 14, 1,592,653,589,793 2:38:46.xxx...
 
  • #27
Sextant said:

EDIT 3/20/15, ERROR CORRECTION:
On the last date in the above post, at 159 billion years in the future, incredibly I somehow missed a digit in the original post. How exactly I did that when I copied an pasted the number is beyond me. I must of inadvertently deleted a digit when I put the commas in. In any event the date has been corrected below in bold. It was only 1.433 trillion year error. March 14, 1,592,653,589,793 2:38:46.xxx...
Let's hope the strange month/day/year format has been abandoned then.
In the highly unlikely case that there will still be something using our current date format at all.[/size]
 

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