π Day***NERD ALERT: This post may be filled with nerdy information regarding π and its mystique - you have been warned!*** 1.00 - There are two Bible readings for this special day, both of which should be read at 1:59pm (3/14 1:59). The first reading will be taken from I Kings 7:23 (notice how close to the approximation of π it is - 22/7), "And he [Hiram] made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about." The second reading is from II Chronicles 4:2 (on the day before π Approximation Day - 7/22 - in the One Year Bible), "Also he [Hiram] made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and five cubits the height thereof; and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about." Based on these passages, it is speculated that the Hebrews knew about π . π is the relationship between a circumference divided by its diameter. Here, the Bible clearly states in TWO places that the circumference of the brazen sea was 30 cubits and the diameter was 10. Now some people will point out right here that 3 is not π and the Biblical approximation is low, especially considering that the Egyptians and the Babylonians had much closer approximations; 0.019 and 0.017 less than π respectively! An interesting article I read pointed out the key to an alternative reading of the I Kings 7:23 verse. Apparently, there exists and ancient Hebrew tradition which involves writing some words differently then they are spoken. Hebrew tradition involved the oral recounting of history and in light of this, it is easy to see how a passage could be reconstructed without the original spelling because of oral transmission. In some cases, the written version differs slightly from the correct spelling. In Rabbinical folklore, it is a common feature for all books of the Hebrew Bible to contain such disparities - any edition of the Hebrew Bible with Hebrew text and translation marks these disparities with an asterisk or a note on the margins. In Hebrew, the word "line" is written as "QVH (Qof, Vav, Hea)," but has to be read as "QV (Qof, Vav). This not only points to an approximation of the line circling the "sea," but that the value is hidden in the choice of the written version. I'm sure you've heard that the letters of the Hebrew alphabet have numerical meaning and that many people put a lot in store by what they discover from mixing and twisting the numbers. In this particular instance, it turns out that when you add the length of the line (3) and divide the value of the written version (111) by the value of the reading version (106), you get a result of 3.1415094 - just 0.000084 less than the current value of π and MUCH more accurate than either the Egyptians or the Babylonians' approximations. 2.00 - My birthday (mm/dd/yyyy) appears in π at position 82,470,070. It is interesting (in my head anyway), to note that it took 0.007225 seconds to compute my query; 22/7 being the mathematical approximation of π.
Here is the string and surrounding numbers: 18304502109549543710 09011981 59396721523178305085 A search for my cell phone number revealed after 0.001512 seconds that it doesn't exist in the first 200 million digits of π, neither does my home phone, nor my social security number, nor my credit card... so I guess I'm fairly safe from Them. My customer number at the bank appears at position 146,845,488 (sorry, I'm not showing the string and surrounding numbers). And October 8 of this year appears at position 173,946,637... (if you don't understand, read my October 8 post). 3.00 - A poem in the style of Edgar A. Poe's "The Raven" and entitled "Near a Raven" will help you to memorize the first 740 digits of π . The numbers are encoded in the words themselves; memorize the poem, and use the following algorithm to decode:
- the digit N if N<10
- the digit 0 if N=10, and
- two adjacent digits if N>10 (e.g., a 12-letter word represents the digit '1' followed by '2').
Before you know it, you'll be able to impress everyone (well, almost) with your knowledge of 740 digits of π... plus the fact that you've memorized a poem. :P 3.14 - I discovered a beautiful experiment whereby you can pick ten notes on a keyboard, each will be associated a number (based on the order you pick them), and will play π for you... I love this and am listening to π playing in the background as I write. :D
...hopelessly nerdy Oh... and you should see the π earrings I made to wear today! 3.14 is on one side (and yes, I included the decimal) and 1592 is on the other side. [oh... and I can recite π to 29 places right now... ::giggle::] | 
