Well, I suppose it belongs here -- because of its importance to all of the life sciences, generally. And -- as someone I once loved told me exactly two years ago, today (on the once a century "epic" Pi day!) -- I'm a goof for it. True -- but my adoration of pi (and pie!) remains. . . shameless.
From The New York Times opinion page, two years ago, this afternoon, then:
. . . .Early mathematicians realized pi’s usefulness in calculating areas, which is why they spent so much effort trying to dig its digits out. Archimedes used 96-sided polygons to painstakingly approximate the circle and showed that pi lay between 223/71 and 22/7. By the time Madhava (in India, around 1400) calculated pi to over 10 decimal places using his groundbreaking infinite series (which regrettably bears Leibniz’s name), it was already more than accurate enough to address all practical applications. Pursuing pi further had essentially become a mathematical challenge. . . .
Here in the waning moments of our final 2017 Spring snowstorms, tomorrow at late-lunch, I'll go have a big slice of warm pecan pie, literally swimming in dollops of whipped cream. . . so my celebration and observance will then be. . . complete!
Have you. . . had yours?
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