Happy Pi Day everyone! This is about the nerdiest possible holiday outside of May the 4th. (Of course, it only works in countries that write today’s date as 3/14 and not 14/3). To celebrate, we bought an apple pie and also because who needs an excuse to get pie?
I posted this poem back in 2012 but I thought I’d post it again, since it seems appropriate to the day. Have a great day and do something irrational (defined here as something that keeps changing and never ever gets finished.)
I wonder why the real world has such odd numbers;
They never seem to fit.
How many students would thank God if π=3?
Never minding the odd circles we would have.
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A single digit,
How boring for an infinite God
Who delights in the endless diversity of the irrational;
Never repeating but infinite in variety.
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As self-contained as the circle
The irrational Greek letter describes.
Reflected in the curve of a galaxy or the path of an electron:
A seemingly simple curve containing an infinity of detail.
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So what do we do with
An irrational God,
Instantly truncated in a world where significant digits
Seem to carry such grave significance?
*
Some people want a 3.14 God,
Easy to understand, easy to deal with, easy to calculate.
Some strive for 15926 or with a lifetime of prayer and holiness can see 53589.
But even they are sometimes tempted to round up and call it a day.
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For all our striving, the whole of human history could never approach
A single significant digit of God’s irrationality.
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3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751
05820974944592307816406286208998628
034825342117067…
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Heaven is in the details.
The Green-Walled Tower 