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How do you like your pi?
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 SWEET CELEBRATION: Central Elementary School fourth-grader Brittni Ball eats a piece of pie while talking with classmate Sarah Clark as they celebrate International Pi Day on Friday. - The Observer/DICK MASON A riddle of infinite proportions. It is the mystery of pi, the most famous ratio in mathematics. One which the 25 students in Leslie Graham’s fourth-grade class at Central Elementary celebrated Friday during International Pi Day. Pi, as everyone who has taken geometry knows, is approximately 3.14, the number of times that a circle’s diameter will fit around the circle. Graham’s students recognized pi Friday by: • eating pieces of pie near the end of the school day. • wearing T-shirts with phrases like “I like pi!’’ • reading a pi poem. • stringing together different colored beads following pi’s pattern, one which has no repeating numbers. • having a “pi shout’’ at 1:59 p.m. The students shouted 159 because these are decimal digits 3-5 in pi. Why the extended salute to pi? It adds zest to geometry. Pi has long intrigued mathematicians because it can’t be calculated to perfect precision. It starts at 3.14, goes to 3.14159, then 3.14159265 and on infinitely. Graham told her students that mathematicians calculated pi to more than a trillion digits with no conclusion in sight. Graham’s students find such information riveting. “They are fascinated by it because the number never ends,’’ Graham said. Friday was International Pi Day because it was March 14, or 3-14 as a date. Graham made a point of celebrating it because she is introducing geometry to her students.
 The Observer/DICK MASON “It was a double celebration.’’ Einstein was fascinated by pi, but this is but one reason why Graham is a big fan. She was most taken by his education philosophy. “He said that imagination is more important than knowledge. I really believe that,’’ she said. Graham’ recognizes pi year round in her classroom with a laminated pi number on her east wall. It is carried to 25 decimal digits, the number of students Graham had in her class in 2006-07. Graham will add 25 more digits this year to recognize the number of students in her class. She plans to annually add to her posted pi number throughout her teaching career. “By the time I retire it will be long enough to circle the classroom.’’ |
