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Numbers in the News: Pi Day
On March 14 (or 3/14), math lovers celebrate National Pi Day to honor the famous number that begins with 3.14 and goes on forever.
SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
22/7
The approximate value of pi in fraction form. To find pi, you divide the circumference of a circle by its diameter.
1706
The year that William Jones, a Welsh mathematician, first used the Greek letter symbol to represent the mathematical constant pi.
100,000,000,000,000
The most digits of pi ever calculated. It took computers 157 days to complete the feat.
NASA
16
The number of digits of pi that NASA uses to calculate things like the orbits of spacecraft.
COURTESY OF RAJVEER MEENA
10 HOURS
The amount of time Rajveer Meena spent reciting pi from memory, up to 70,000 digits. This earned him a world record in 2015.
THINK ABOUT IT: How could you celebrate Pi Day this year?
SOURCES: GOOGLE CLOUD, GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS, NASA JET PROPULSION LAB, A HISTORY OF PI BY PETR BECKMANN