All around the world, people grab a slice of one of their favorite desserts as they celebrate the world’s longest number on March 14th, also known as Pi Day. Math whizzes and pie fanatics alike have celebrated this treasured day for almost forty years, and the Dubs have certainly not failed to uphold this tradition. North Atlanta celebrates Pi Day in various ways every year.
Count yourself as lucky if you happen to have your math class on Pi Day because chances are you will be enjoying a delicious piece of pie while working in your math class. It is common for students to bring a pie to their math class on this day as a form of celebration. Senior Leeza Kurtz exemplified her excitement and admiration for Pi Day when she brought a pie for her whole math class to enjoy. “I look forward to Pi Day every year,” said Kurtz. “I am a big math person and I love pie so it’s a day that is easy for me to celebrate.”
Some students have established their own very unique traditions as forms of celebration for Pi Day. Senior Riley Coogan has an exceptional and impressive practice of learning new digits of pi each year, and this year, he recited around 1,000 digits. Each year, IB Math teacher Mrs. Hunter holds a pi memorization contest, challenging participants to memorize the most digits for a $100 prize. No doubt, Riley Coogan has participated for the past four years, securing the money each time.
Coogan says he typically spends around three days preparing for the competition each year. One can only imagine how difficult it could be to memorize 1,000 consecutive digits of pi, but he has a special method to help him get the job done. To take on this seemingly daunting task, he turns the numbers into letters and then creates phrases that he memorizes. “It is a lot easier to remember simple phrases than it is to remember a specific order of 1,000 digits,” he said.
Whether you celebrate by grabbing a slice of pie or memorizing 1,000 digits, Pi Day can make your typical math class a little more fun. But as for the Pi Day competition… good luck beating that record.