Welcome to the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) blog. The IMA is the UK's learned and professional society for mathematics and its applications. We promote mathematics research, education and careers, and the use of mathematics in business, industry and commerce. Among our activities we produce academic journals, organise conferences and engage with government.

In this blog we will publish mathematical articles and news to reflect the interests of our members who come from a multiplicity of different organisations including university academics, industrial mathematicians, financiers, school teachers, scientists, civil servants etc.
Showing posts with label pi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pi. Show all posts

Thursday, 15 March 2012

Pi day at Kingswood School

Yesterday was Pi day (the 14th day of the 3rd month - 3.14 if you're using that dating system). Plus Magazine have a roundup of some pi-themed material. I celebrated with a blog post How to calculate π.

Meanwhile, Garrod Musto, IMA Council member and Head of Mathematics at Kingswood School in Bath, enjoyed pi day with his students. One of his year 10 students created a pi day poem which Garrod sent to me to share via this blog.
The best smelling food has its own day,
A day when Mr Musto brought in cup cakes on a tray,
If you still don’t know the date I’ll continue with the clues,
I’ll carry on going with my poem chocolates the last thing I’d want to lose,
What’s the sexiest number in Australians eyes?
What number goes around as a symbol for a disguise?
It looks like a table with a curly leg,
Or if you turn it round it looks like a peg,
Its 3.14 backwards if you take a look,
William Shanks found the first 707 digits no matter how many years it took,
The first 144 digits all add up to six hundred and sixty six,
To screw up completely only one number has to be a miss,
People drove themselves mad trying to figure it out,
They had no way of cheating if they were in doubt,
The first million decimal places consist of 99,959 zeros, 99,758 1s, 100,026 2s,
William Shanks lost a few numbers for him to lose,
The biggest number so powerful alone,
The biggest number I’ve even know,
You still don’t know the date,
On which all mathematical geniuses celebrate,
So many people taken the problem to their grave,
Try and remember them if you’re brave,
Go ahead and give it a Try,
Remember the thousands of numbers which all make pie