American pies are cooling on the windowsill ahead of Pi Day Today in the US, home of the crazily backward (if you're not American) date arrangement, it's Pi day because its March 14 or 3.14. This is the day that Americans (but not Europeans, obviously) celebrate the mathematical constant that frames our science and maths along with the birthday of Albert Einstein. A mathematical …
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mmmm...really? I always wonder about the theory that infinite randomness must by definition contain all variations of finite patterns.
For example, when people say that if the universe (or parallel universes, if you like) is infinite, there must be an exact replica of our world where everyone wears more hats. Isn't it more likely that even if the universe/s is infinite, there's a limited number of possibilities? It seems entirely plausible that our world is the only world containing hats, and the rest of infinity is sadly hatless (and devoid of life).
Likewise, couldn't the random/meaningless-seeming digits of the decimal representation of pi continue in a unrepeating manner without meaningful coincidence?
"It seems entirely plausible that our world is the only world containing hats".
Space bounded by infinity contains an infinite number of all things which are possible. We know for sure (as far as we really know anything) that our world is possible. We don't know for sure a world like ours with more hats is possible, but, it seems entirely plausible.
As for the 'friend', expressing 1/3rd exactly also requires an infinite number of digits which don't contain any Rick Astley. The digits of pi are not random either, they can be calculated which by definition means they are not random. Taken a few digits at a time they appear to have the properties of random numbers but that is no guarantee that taken a few million at a time you will eventually get every possible sequence of that few million digits.
The universe is a physical entity, and therefore limited by physical laws.
However, pi is just an infinitely-long string of random numbers. Any computer file is a finite string of numbers. Unless you have found some pattern in the digits of pi so that it isn't truly random, then somewhere there's going to be a string of consecutive numbers which matches your chosen sequence.
It might take a while to find it though. Basic probability gives you the odds of finding an M-digit sequence of numbers in N digits of pi, and the odds go down *fast* as the size of sequence goes up.
I would suggest Kate Bush as the leading contender for Pi day tune but apprently her attempt to sing Pi to 150 decimal places goes a bit wonky
> a pie in 4 dimensions?
Pies already exist in four dimensions; they are sharply tapered along that axis, meaning that their projection into the three dimensions we know about gets smaller quite quickly.
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. There is no longer a need for an investigation into who ate all the pies...
Vic.
A friend of mine told me the perfect food for Pi Day - it's a small round flat bread, with tomato paste spread upon it and then cheese melted on top, of radius "z" and height "a" and whose total volume was described by the formula V= pi x r squared x h = substituting in the above formula gives us "pizza"..... :(
(yup, I know it's lame - personally I prefer Pi day as 22nd July, which is more mathematically correct than 3.14)
"Pi R Squared? No! Pie are round; cornbread are square."
Don't.
I was stood at the Asda pizza counter the other week while a knuckle-dragging family tried to work out the area of pizzas to figure out what size was the best value*. I finally snapped and said "Pi r^2" [flawlessly pronouncing the caret]. They turned to me and I was met with a tirade of answers:
"But it's a pizza, not a pie"
"But it's round"
"That's maths, that is. What use is THAT in the real world?"
*The 14" one by a wide margin. I'd done the maths myself a few years ago. It was borderline while they were charging £4 for them, but now they're £3.18 it's a no brainer.
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"355/113 is better yet, and manageable with 16bit integer arithmetic."
I have no doubt it is, but our year isn't that long. Neptune's year, on the other hand, can handle it: since it it lasts for 164.8 Earth years, it contains 75583.66 Neptunian days, which can fit 120 months of 360 days each with a lot of room to spare.
Uranus does nicely, too. Its year lasts for 84.07 Earth years, with a 17.9-hour day, giving 41142.64 Uranian days - 115 months of 360 days each with *some* room to spare.
Unsurprisingly, Pluto won't cooperate: its year lasts for 247.7 earth-years, with a day that's 6.39 Earth-days long, so its calendar only has 14148.75 Plutonian days.
So, we should be celebrating Pi Day on 22/7 on Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, and 355/113 on Uranus and Neptune. Pluto, since it won't cooperate, can go frack itself. I wonder if Sedna will be better?
I imagine its just easier to have everyone change the clocks an hour forwards or backwards, rather than convince all shops/businesses/schools/public transport/etc to start or finish or place their most frequent service at a different time of the day (So my office hours are for intance 9-5 all year round in stead of having me start at 8 or 10 or whatever it is.. I cant be bothered figuring it out.. daylight saving time does it for me)
it all just boils down to what hours contain daylight at what times of the year and saving of electricity/reduce accidents/profesions that need daylight to work.
it is kind of clever
Easter has ham... Thanksgiving has turkey. Christmas... in England, goose was associated with it. Turkey is definitely a choice for Christmas dinner in the United States, but it isn't really associated with the holiday.
Of course, there are also Easter eggs, but they're for painting, not eating.
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