Here’s my Shipload of Pi day Activities…..

Dress as a Pirate and play background “Pirates of the Carribean” songs

Set up your classroom with different labeled areas —- such as ship areas like — the Poop Deck, Captains’ Quarters, the Crow’s Nest, etc. Have different activities at each location for students to explore!

Make wearable Pi day necklaces, bracelets, and pins, using pony beads, yarn, and cup lids, where each bead represents a particular number 0 - 9

Measure the diameters and circumferences of different sized circles and then dividing the diameter by the radius in each case, make a class chart for recording each finding, and then ask why they all equal Pi

In the step above, graph circumference values along the y-axis and associated diameter values along the x-axis.  Then determine and discuss why the slope of the line is equal to the value of Pi.

Memorize the most digits of Pi

I had a contest where everyone had to guess the size of the original pumpkin based on a huge chunk of it (from a pumpkin weighing contest)

Toss bean bags onto a picture of a ship having 10 sails, each with a hole, where each sail lists one of the digits 0 to 9. Win by tossing bean bags into the sails in the longest correct order of Pi.

Use a large sheet of paper or cardboard, a meterstick, a pen, 30 or more toothpicks, and a calculator to simulate “Buffon’s Needle” approximation of Pi.

Correctly answering a Pi Day Trivia quiz

List as many circle shapes as you can within 1-minute

Create a paper “chain” of pi day digits, where each digit is a different color “link.”  Make a school-wide contest to see who makes the longest chain!

Figure out where your birthday exists in Pi digits -- http://www.facade.com/legacy/amiinpi/

Make a Pi Quilt --- list and display the first, say, 1,000 digits of Pi, and make a different colored post-it square for each digit 0 to 9.  Ask students to paste a square onto a number that it represents for the “quilt” of Pi digits - ask them what they notice about repeating colors, or gaps of colors in the quilt pattern….

Have fun with my “post-it” Pi!  Use compasses, rulers, scissors, paper and glue.  Measure one side of a post-it square. Call this side length “r”.  Set the compass opening to the same length as r. Draw a circle on paper with the compass. Glue inside the circle the post-it.  Continue, counting the number of complete and partial post-its it takes to cover the entire area of the circle.  The area of a circle is estimated to be 3.14, or just a bit larger than 3. The area of one post-it is r-squared.  What do you notice about the area of the circle?

Write the letters of the English alphabet in capitals clockwise around a circle. Cross out letters that have vertical symmetry.  Count the remaining letters in the groups of letters between the crossed-out letters.  How are the groups of letters that remain related to  Pi ?

Did you know that the volume of a pizza having thickness a and radius z is pi-z-z-a !

We invested 4 different problems that included geometry, algebra, and trigonometry concepts.

We investigated the Monte Carlo Estimation process for Pi.

We looked into a variety of proofs that Pi is irrational

We worked through the Gauss-Legendre algorithm for approximating the value of Pi

We wrote Pi-day Limericks   “Pi-Mericks”

I created a song on pi inspired by Pharrell William’s song “Happy”, but mine was called “Mathy” --- and I submitted it to a MoMath contest …..

We sang several other Pi-day songs

We created Haiku “PI – Kuhs”…

I gathered and shared a huge variety of Pi-day puns

I served Pi day foods — pineapples, pie, pizza pie, cookies shaped like Pi, cupcakes with Pi written on top, Pine nuts, etc.

And, I kept adding more as the years went by and others shared with me!

Print a grid on large poster paper consisting of 2” by 2” squares. Put one of each digit of Pi in correct order from top left square to the right square, then next row left to right, and so on. e.g., 40 squares long by 25 squares wide yield 1,000 squares for the 1st 1,000 digits of Pi.

Place 10 different colored 2” by 2” square post-it notes in separate bowls in front of the poster. Label each post-it note bowl with a specific digit from 0 to 9.

Display the first 1,000 digits of Pi. Have students choose post-it notes to place over squares on the poster paper that match the number for that post-it note. Continue until entire poster is covered in post-its.

Ask students what they notice about the pattern of colors… which appears most often? Do any colors repeat in a row? What else? What does this tell us about the digits of PI?

Create a board with 10 holes (each hole large enough for small bean bags to pass through).

Idea for illustrating the board -->

A Pirate Ship with holes for cannons.

Number each hole individually, from 0 to 9.

Support the back of the board so it can stand up.

 Place the board 5 or more feet away from students.  Put a bucket (pirate chest?) near students containing the 10 bags.

Hand out or post the first 20 or more digits of Pi.  (or have students by memory toss bags in the order of the digits in PI)

Students take turns to see who can get the most bean bags into the holes in the correct order of the digits in Pi.   (Ignore the decimal point).

Arrghh ! Tis a fine game me maties!

Pi Day Trivia Quiz

1.        Who, in 1706, first gave the Greek letter “pi” its current math definition?

·      Albert Einstein

·      William Jones

·      Attila the Hun

·      Archimedes

·      Napolean Bonaparte

2.        What is the earliest known reference to pi in history?

·      The Rosetta Stone, approx. 200 BC

·      The Bible

·      An Egyptian papyrus scroll, written in approx. 1,650 BC by Ahmes the Scribe

·      Euclid’s Elements, written in the third century BC

3.        Are Pi’s digits periodic?  In other words, do the digits ever repeat themselves in any pattern?

·      Yes, they repeat every 6,000,000 decimal places

·      No. Every periodic number is rational, but pi is irrational

·      Yes, every infinitely long number repeats itself

·      Maybe.... not enough digits of pi have been calculated to know yet

4.        What is the current world record for memorization of the decimal places of pi?

·       4,096 places by Simon Plouffe

·       31,811 places by Rajan Mahadevan

·       70,000 places by Rajveer Meena

·       42,000 places by Hiroyuki Goto

·       56, 789 places by Alfred E. Neuman

5.        Pi is an irrational number.  What does that mean?

·      Its digits cannot be rationed out evenly

·      Nobody with sound judgement has anything to do with it

·      It is a real number, but can’t be expressed a ratio of 2 integers

6.        Among the digits of pi currently known, the concentration of each of the digits 0 to 9 are close to equal.  However, in the first 30 places of pi’s decimal expansion, which digit is completely missing?

·       7

·       2

·       0

·       8

7.        What is the formal definition of Pi?

·      The surface area of a sphere of diameter 22/7

·      A delicious dessert

·      The ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter

8.        Imagine if you wrapped a rope tightly around the earth at the equator.  How much longer would you have to make the rope if you wanted it to be exactly one foot above the surface all the way around?

·      2(pi)feet

·      2(Pi)(r)feet, where r is the radius of the earth

·      (Pi)2 feet

9.        How many hours did it take a supercomputer to calculate pi to 51.5 billion digits in 1997?

·       78 hours

·       3 hours

·       29 hours

10.  Which of the following binary numbers is closest to the value of pi?

·       11.0010010000111111

·       101.110101000111100

·       10.0001101010110100

·       1.10111011010010011

·       111.010111101011111

Answers -->.  

1.        William Jones

2.        Egyptian papyrus

3.        No. Every periodic number is rational, but pi is irrational

4.        70,000 places by Rajveer Meena

5.        It is a real number, but can’t be expressed a ratio of 2 integers

6.        0

7.        The ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter

8.        2(pi)feet

9.        29 hours

10.  11.0010010000111111

 Item description

There once was a circle who cried

Seems no matter what I decide

Whether I’m big or I’m small

Can’t change ratio Pi at all

It continually the same I confide

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Ratio circumference to diameter

Irrational Pi always the answer

Transcendental and infinite

3.14 be its estimate

March 14 —- the obvious day to remember!

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In the year 2015

Irrational Pi made a big scene

Adding 2 digits more

Beyond estimated 3.14

Made the date 3-14-15 remarkably extreme!

Pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter —- 3.1415926535,,, —- is just the beginning! It keeps going forever without repeating! This meas, that contained within this string of decimals is every other number!

For instance, your birth date, the combination to your locker, your social security number, etc. It’s all there somewhere!

And if you convert these decimals into letters, you would have every word that ever existed in every possible combination; the first syllable you spoke as a baby, the name of your latest crush, yor entire life story from beginning to end, and everything we ever say or do. All the world’s infinite possiblities rest within this one simple circle. Amazing stuff!

IA twist on Haiku…..

Infinite

Pi exhaustingly irrationally transcendental

Three point one four one five nine and even more if I had time

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Radii

Circumference —- for any circle divide C by R

Continually resulting in my irrational Pi