Do you know your Pi(e)?

Today is March 14^th, which means math enthusiasts around the world are celebrating by challenging their friends to see how many digits of pi (π) and the majority of others are celebrating by eating pie.

Pi day is celebrated on March 14^th as 3, 1, and 4 are the first three significant digits in pi’s representation as an infinite decimal—that means once you see the decimal, the numbers go on and on and on, well after those that appear on your phone, calculator, or a quick google search. In fact, last year, Google announced that one of its employees, Emma Haruka Iwao had set a new record after discovering almost 9 trillion new digits of pi.

With so many digits, you’re probably thinking the mathematicians are crazy challenging their friends to see how much they have committed to memory but there are actually some astounding achievements by those who have set records for how many digits of pi they have memorized:

• 1981: Rajan Mahadevan from India recited 31,811 digits
• 1989: Hideaki Tomoyori from Japan recited 40,000 digits
• 2005 (current Guinness World Record): Lu Chao from China recited 67,890 digits

Care to test your knowledge? We’ve made a pi quiz for you to do just that! Share it with your friends to test their knowledge as well.

Photo credit: pi graphics used designed by Freepik.