Pi in the Movies

Pi Day … 14th March ….. 3.14

Pi Day celebrates an AMERICAN Pi because:

1. AUSTRALIA and UK:

Australia and UK write their dates DD/MM/YY and the 14th March or 14.3 is nothing to get excited about.

2. EUROPE

Pi in Europe is pronounced Pee. So 14th March Would be

Pee Day.

And Pee Day would not be something to encourage in Middle School. Also the perfume below is hilarious in Europe.

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Nevertheless, here are 2 interesting appearances by Pi in the movies plus a middle school challenge to count the Pi’s in the movie clip.

1. A Beautiful Mind

In this movie where Russell Crowe plays Mathematician Nobel Laureate John Nash, there is a maths  blooper involving Pi. Watch for pi on the window at 43 seconds.

You should have seen 0<π<1. But we all know π = 3.1415 etc.  For those mathematically fastidious an argument can be put that π can be used as a variable, which would make the statement true. But π is a universal constant so using π as a variable is just STUPID.

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2. Pi: The Movie

This 1998 psychological thriller promo clip is also the coolest maths promo you will ever see. It is only 1.42 mins long and it is big on π. But be warned the full lenght moive (SPOILER ALERT) involves madness, π and self-lobotomising with a power drill with a ‘happy’ ending.

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Pi Day Challenge:

How many times do you see π in this clip? Watch carefully!!!!!

 

 

 

Pi on TV

1.  The Simpsons

When Marge is accused of stealing from Apu’s Quickie Mart his memory is tested. He says his memory is very good. He can recite pi to 40,000 places!!! Also on Numberphile: A Mile of Pi.

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2.  The Late Show with David Letterman

Maths savant Daniel Tammet explains that he can recite Pi to 22,000 places. But wait until you hear how long it takes. Amaaaazing!!!!!

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3.  Star Trek

Spock sorts out a computer with the command to calculate Pi. Cool!!!!

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4.  Mathletics

Look for the second maths blooper in this clip. The folks at Mathletics get Pi wrong!!!!! Great spotting Mathologer.

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5.  MTV Kate Bush

Some may prefer to listen to Apu reciting Pi to 40,000 decimal places. Nevertheless, here is Kate Bush singing about Pi.

Every Day is Pi Day

Wowwwwwwwwww!!!!!!

π   π   π

Mathspig is very excited to note that Pi has been in the news this week.

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Firstly, in an article titled Pimp My Memory New Scientist, 2nd April, cited Chao Lu’s feat of remembering π to 67,890 places in November 2005.

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It took Chao (pictured below) 24 hours and 4 minutes to recite the 67,000plus places!!!!!!!!

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If Mathspig was listening I dare say she would have fallen asleep and slammed her snout into the table top at 200kph at about the 300th decimal place.

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But I can’t help wondering what would happen if some one said, Aussie style ‘Nah, mate! You missed one. That 61, 235 place was a 3!!!!!’

π

This is more a feat of memory than maths.

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Wowwwwww !!!!^2!!!!

Then The New Yorker, 4th April 2011, reported on Pi Day activities in the Facing History School (pictured ), Hell’s Kitchen, NY. (Below random students)

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Maths teachers held a pi-memorisation day on Pi Day (3/14 in USA, which unfortunately in Australia is written 14/3) offering a new iPod Touch as a prize.

π

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There was also a pi pie-eating contest and a pi “jeopardy” game.  The Maths teachers all wore Pi Day teachers with names printed on the back such as Karina “The Algorithm” Garcia.

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The winner of the pi-memorisation was a sophomore (Year 10 in Australia), Jason Gil, who recalled 162 digits. Yey!!! Go Jason.

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Mathspig urges maths teachers to have a fun maths day. Other subjects have days and events!!! Give maths a big profile in your school. A Pi Day is good. And a pi-memorisation challenge can be lots of fun. Here are three ways to remember Pi.

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π

1.Phone No. Method

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Some students at Facing History School, NY committed  the pi sequence to memory by putting the numbers in blocks of cellphone numbers.

3.1415926535 8979323846 2643383279 5028841971

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π

2. Song Method

The Pi sequence can be remembered using a Pi Song.  Here’s a song to recall the first 10 digits.

π

If numbers had a heaven

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Their God would surely be

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3.1415

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92653

π

It is sung to the Mickey Mouse Club Song.

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Here is a more entertaining song called Mathematical Pi Song by 4ACT, which proves that good mathematicians make crap singers.

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3. Piem Method

The third way to memorise the pi sequence is to write a PIEM … or Pi Poem.

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It can be a crazy poem but each word has the number of letters of the digit to be remembered.

π

eg.

How I want a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy chapters involving quantum mechanics.

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Here’s a piem by Maths pig:

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Get a grip u maths pyschopath I’m afraid piday fun shidz students painfully.

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All right, already. Some poetic license is allowed. Tricks such as rhymes and mnemonics like the piem will only help memory if they are witty and apt but you must know what you can get away with.

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How to study for exams? According to studies reported in New Scientist the best way to learn for an exam is to constantly test your memory. Make it work hard. REcall. REcall. REcall.

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I’m Mathspig. I didn’t say I would be a nice pig.