PVCC Celebrates Pi Day with Pie

Albert Einstein is far more than just a name, it is an adjective. To be called Einstein is synonymous with intelligence. He was so brilliant and so dedicated to his craft that his name alone designates genius.

Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, in Ulm, Germany, and died thousands of miles away on April 18, 1955, in Princeton, New Jersey. Many years before his birth, a striking relationship within the circle was found that would influence mathematics forever. While the exact person is unclear, a discovery was made determining that the ratio between a circle’s circumference and diameter is constant.

The ratio is called Pi, and its numerical value can be rounded to 3.1415, although it continues far beyond those few numbers. This universal law not only showed the relationship of diameter and circumference, but eventually, a more obscure relationship with the modern-day godfather of mathematics.

Whether it was by chance or mathematical destiny, Einstein’s birth date, 3/14, directly corresponds to Pi’s numerical value of 3.14. It is a correlation PVCC’s math club, Mu Alpha Theta, did not overlook.

Diane Valade is an assistant professor of Mathematics at PVCC and was heavily involved with the idea, formation, and execution of PVCC’s second-ever Pi Day. In keeping with the idea of Pi, not only was the day dedicated to the number 3.14, but also to the more tangible translation, food.

Upon arriving at the event attendees could make a number of decisions, one being to discuss math and enjoy the company of fellow mathematicians, another to eat a delicious piece of pie, and finally to poke their heads through a cardboard cutout of Albert Einstein and snap a picture.

There were no worries of attack when exposing your head through the cardboard. While there was ample amount of pie, Valade reflected on the decision to leave the pastries in students’ stomachs and not on their faces, saying, “No, we did not do pies in the face; we talked about it, but we did not do pies in the face.”

This year’s Pi Day was a great success and well-received; however, last year’s event held even more mathematical significance. On 3/14/15, Valade said, “We didn’t get three digits of pie. We got five digits of pie last year, so it was really cool.”

In the end, what is Pi day all about? Beyond the tasty treats, the artistic cutouts, and the mathematical relationships, Valade feels Pi day serves a special purpose: “The goal wasn’t [to make money], we ended up making $34, we were just having fun with math; it’s Pi day. Let’s celebrate Einstein’s birthday.”