HISTORY OF PI DAY

Although this holiday is often overlooked by those who do not speak Geek, or those who do not speak Greek… but for the math major, this is a special celebration. On March 14, or 3/14, or 3.14 — we have the first three digits of “Pi.”

Engaget has featured the music of Michael John Blake who turned the first 31 decimal places into a song:

…played at 157 beats per minute, no less (or half of 314). As it turns out, however, Blake wasn’t the first to come up with the idea — composer Lars Erickson wrote his own “Pi Symphony” a few years back, and has now sparked a bit of a copyright spat on YouTube over who actually owns the rights to Pi in musical form.

You can can find Blake’s music here and the Pi Symphony here.

Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian
www.billpetro.com

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