Happy Pi Day, everyone! Today I wanted to post about what Pi is for those who may not know, and for the kiddos at home on Spring break!
Pi Day falls on Mar. 14 (3/14) wherein some parts of the world, people celebrate the never-ending mathematical constant: Pi (Greek letter “π”). While National Pi Day did not become official until 2009, when the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution to the effect, the day was celebrated since 1988 by physicist Larry Shaw, at the San Francisco Exploratorium. Shaw and his colleagues celebrated the day consuming fruit pies.
Here are a few Pi Day Facts:
- What is Pi? It’s a symbol used in math to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, approximately 3.14159.
- Pi is considered to be an irrational and transcendental number, which means it will continue infinitely without repetition or pattern.
- In 1706, William Jones made it popular to use the Greek letter pi to represent the mathematical constant of 3.14. Incidentally, Pi is the 16th letter in the Greek alphabet and “P” is the 16th letter in the English alphabet.
- The value of Pi has been calculated to over more than two trillion digits, beyond its decimal point.
- William Shanks, in 1882, is said to have calculated the first 707 digits of Pi. Unfortunately, he made a mistake after the 527th place and as such, every other calculation after that was incorrect. Chemistry student Chao Lu, meanwhile, set the world record in 2005 by memorizing the first 67,890 digits of pi. Chao reportedly practiced for four years and it took 24 hours and 4 min to accomplish the feat.
- Albert Einstein was born on Pi Day: March 14, 1879.
- Mankind has studied pi for over 4,000 years, dating back to 2000 B.C. when the ancient Babylonians determined that the circle ratio constant was 3-1/8 or 3.125.
- The ancient Egyptians computed a value that was a little different at 3-1/7 or 3.143. That said, the earliest written record of pi is on the Rhind Papyrus by Ahmes (c. 1650 BC), an Egyptian scribe.
And what better way to celebrate Pi Day than with an awesome pie recipe? Which is why I’m sharing my favorite Strawberry Pie Recipe. This recipe is super simple and will be one of your new favorites this season at home!
Friends, do you have a favorite pie recipe? Share your favorites in the comments below!
Ingredients
- 1 pastry shell (9 inches), unbaked
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 cup water
- 1 package (3 ounces) strawberry gelatin
- 4 cups sliced fresh strawberries
- Whipped cream, optional
Instructions
- Start by bring sugar, water and cornstarch to a boil over medium heat; approximately seven minutes.
- Cook, while stirring the mixture constantly for 1 minute until thickened.
- Add package of strawberry gelatin, and fold into mixture until dissolved.
- Remove from heat; chill mixture two hours in the refrigerator, on the potholder, for 2 hours.5. Arrange strawberries in a pastry shell and pour gelatin mixture over; reserve six berries, but on the bias for topping.
- Cover pie and chill 2-4 hours, again in the refrigerator.
- Serve pie with whipped cream if desired.
- Enjoy!
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