Why not make Pi Day a part of your lessons this Friday!
Posted in Everyone
This Friday the 14th March celebrates the return of world Pi Day, a day when mathematicians all over the world celebrate this most famous mathematical ratio.
For thousands of years mathematicians have tried to extend their understanding of Pi with many now competing to memorise Pi to the highest number of decimal places.
The current record for memorising Pi was achieved by Chao Lu (China) who recited Pi from memory to 67,890 places, at the Northwest A&F University, Shaanxi province, China, on 20th November 2005.
Chao Lu attempted the record after practising for 4 years and his attempt lasted a whopping 24 hours and 4 minutes!
Why not make Pi day a part of your lessons this Friday and get your students involved!
Get Pi crafty
Set your Year 7 students the challenge of drawing a perfect circle on a piece of paper using only a drawing pin, a piece of string and a pencil, decorate with a Pi theme, make into a cone hat and award a prize for the best!
Make some Pi noise
Even the coolest of students won’t be able to resist singing along to this catchy number by Ken Ferrier and Antoni Chan.
Irrational Pi
Take the opportunity to talk about irrational numbers – when your students run out of steam reciting the digits of Pi, you can remind them that sometimes the simplest statement is the most accurate!
The official Pi Day website has a wealth of resources for teachers including a Pi rap, details of how to play Pi Ball and lots of fun and engaging classroom activities.
You can also find many MyMaths activities to support you on Pi day such as our Pi Fighter game; save the world by throwing Pi symbols at alien invaders!