Purpose: Pi Day is a day to celebrate mathematics in your school. It gives us the perfect springboard to allow our students to have fun while investigating mathematics concepts, being creative and even a little silly.
Pi Day Activities!
Pi Digit Distribution (Elementary - HS) The younger students can look at the first 50 or 100 digits of pi and make a bar graph of the frequency of each digit. (How many times does 0 appear?) Students enjoy this rich data source for bar graphs. HS students find the mean of the first 100 digits (use scientific calculators/graphing calculators) Create circle graphs based on the digits -excellent use of protractors, fractionss, decimals and angles if done by hand. Use spreadsheets to examine the distribution of the digits.
Calculate Pi (Elementary - Middle- High) Have the students measurre the diameter and circumference of various circular objects using tape measures or use string and then use meter sticks. Have the students divide the circumference by the diameter.
Pi Chain (General) Create the longest Pi Chain ever! I believe that the students in Williamstown Middle School (NJ) created one 1846 links long as it wrapped its way through the hallway! Make up a color scheme 10 colors one for each number. Example: 0 is green, 1 is yellow, 2 is blue, etc. Another activity is a Pi Necklace which uses the same idea.
The Ridiculously Enhanced Pi Page - The Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA
Pi Quilts (General) Start with a 10 by 10 grid and have the students color in the squares starting in the center, spiraling outward. Each number has a different color above. Each student gets a different 100 digits of Pi, attach all the squares in the same fashion (center square is the first 100 digits, and then spiral the squares outward)
Pi Decoration -Give the students a LARGE Pi symbol and have them decorate it/incorporate it into a drawing.
Pi Mobile -I just got this idea while typing the above activity. Give students a Pi template and have them cut out colorful pi symbols from cardstock. Attach each new pi to the bottom of the one above (1 on top 2 beneath)
It's About... (Middle - HS) This is all about estimation. For those of you who enjoy memorizing pi digits this will not sit well with you. Students use the value of Pi = 3 in this fast paced mental calculation game. Give the students a circle with either a radius or diameter.
Pi Digits Create a Hall of fame or grade-wide school records. Students memorize the digits of pi and the student that memorizes the most can win a prize, trophy, certificate -whatever. I have the students memmorize the first 10 digits as part of a homework assignment but the rest is up to them if they wish to participate. The Finley Middle School records are as follows: 6th grade 70 digits; 7th grade 130 digits and 8th grade 157 digits! There's a nice web site called the Pi Trainer that you can use to run the finals of a competition or to learn the digits. You type in the digits that you know and it tells you how many digits you have correct and the next five digits. -All in good fun don't take this too seriously or see these Mnemonic devices for memorizing the digits.
Pi Greeting Cards - Send a free card for Pi Day
Interesting Pi Facts
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You can determine your hat size by measuring the circumference of your head, then divide by pi, and round off to the nearest one-eighth inch. | |
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The height of an elephant (from foot to shoulder) = 2 x pi x the diameter of its foot. | |
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One of the more accurate fractions for pi is 104348/33215. It is accurate to 0.00000001056%. | |
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The Babylonians, in 2000 B.C.E., were the first people known to find a value for pi. | |
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The Bible uses the value of 3 for pi. This verse comes from 1 Kings 7:23: "And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from brim to brim: it was round all about, and its height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass about it." | |
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In the first one million digits of pi there are: | |
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99,959 zeros | |
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99,758 ones | |
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100,026 twos | |
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100,229 threes | |
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100,230 fours | |
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100,359 fives | |
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99,548 sixes | |
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99,800 sevens | |
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99,985 eights | |
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100,106 nines | |
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If you were to type one billion decimals of pi, they would stretch from New York City to the middle of Kansas. | |
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To calculate the circumference of the known universe, you would only have to use 39 decimals of pi and be off by one proton. | |
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Half of the circumference of a circle with a diameter of 2 is pi. The area inside the circle is also pi. | |