Pi Day

Its March 14th (3/14) and The Center of Math would like to wish everyone a happy Pi day! Weather today is an excuse to make pie, eat pie or throw it in someones face, we hope its a good one! Taking a trip back to basic mathematics, Pi (π) or 3.14, is the ratio of a circles circumference, its distance around, to its diameter. As Pi is a constant number, it will remain the same for all circles of any size.

History

The History of Pi dates back to the Old Testament of the Bible. The mathematician Archimedes used polygons with several sides to measure circles and concluded that Pi was approximately 22/7. The adoption of  "π" was first used in 1706 by William Jones, symbolizing "p" for "perimeter." In more recent years, Pi has been calculated to more than one trillion digits past its decimal. However, only 39 digits past the decimal are required to calculate the spherical volume of our entire universe. Many find it an entertaining challenge to memorize as many digits as they can, especially today, when several Pi memorizing competitions take place.

To date, the longest recitation of Pi is held by Akira Haraguchi. On March 14, 2015 (last year's Pi day), the 60 year old man needed more than 16 hours to recite the number to 100,000 decimals, breaking his 1995 personal best of 83,431. Haraguchi developed a system where he assigns kana symbols, or Japanese scripts, to memorize Pi as a collection of stories. The same system was developed by C.S. Lewis, who assigned letters from the alphabet to numbers, creating stories to memorize numbers. 

However, the Guinness Book of World Records has not yet accepted any of his records set, making them unofficial. The Guinness-recognized number of π is held by Rajveer, 21, reaching 70,000 digits. Rajveer wore a blindfold throughout the entire recall, which took nearly 10 hours.  

Geometry

Tau VS Pi 

Currently, the "Tau VS Pi" debate lies under the premise that,"pi is a confusing and unnatural choice for the circle constant. Far more relevant, according to the algebraic apostates, is 2π, aka tau." Tau

supporters argue that mathematicians don't necessarily care about pi's ratio, a circles circumference with its diameter. Almost every mathematical equation about circles in written in terms of r for radius, and tau is the number that connects a circumference to that quantity.

Critics don't mean anything as been miscalculated, Pi still equals the same infinite string of never-repeating digits, however professor Robert Palais started the "pi is wrong" outburst with an article to match. The article delves into the various ways using tau in beneficial when learning and solving fundamental concepts in trigonometry. For example, with pi-based thinking, one third of a circle equates to two thirds pi radians, and three quarters around is one and a half pie radians. Sounds complicated for a beginner, right? By contract, a third of a circle is a third of tau, and three quarters of a circle is three quarters tau. Palais remarks, "the opportunity to impress students with a beautiful and natural simplification is turned into an absurd exercise in memorization and dogma."    

Another major plus side of a universe where Pi is replaced by Tau, you get to eat twice as much pie on Tau Day! 

On a lighter, more fun note, check out some Pi Day inspired youtube videos! 

Domino Spiral 

Preparing for Pi Day!

Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDABQucvp18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp9zLbIE8zo
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/let-s-use-tau-it-s-easier-than-pi/
http://www.thepimanifesto.com/
http://www.piday.org/learn-about-pi/

Women History Month

With Hilary Clinton leading the democratic polls - potentially being our first female president, and National Women's History being one of March's claims to fame, the Center of Math found it appropriate to shed light on historic female mathematicians!

Hypatia

Despite there not being records of the first female mathematician, Hypatia is certainly recognized as one of the earliest. Following in her fathers footsteps, she invested her time int he study of math and astronomy. Her father, the last known member of the famed library of Alexandria, collaborated with Hypatia on various commentaries of classical mathematical works. This process involved translating mathematical methods and translating them, while incorporating explanatory notes. The partnership between her and her father inspired Hypatia to create her own commentaries and including them in her practice as a teacher. Her passion of philosophy and her commitment to the Neoplatonism belief system, a system where everything emanates from "The One", lead her to become a convenient scapegoat in various political outbreaks. Unfortunately, she was killed by a mob of Christian zealots.

Sophie Germain (1776-1831) 

Her love for the study of mathematics was sparked by her isolation during the French Revolution. She thought herself Latin and Greek to understand classic mathematical works. Being female, and unable to study at the École Polytechnique, she obtained lecture notes and submitted papers to professor Joseph Lagrange, under a false name. Once he discovered she was a female, he became her mentor. His many networks lead Sophie to make her own connections with other prominent mathematicians. At the time, her work was not up to par with other male mathematicians due to her informal training and lack of resources. Despite the odds against her, she became the first woman to win a prize from the French Academy of Sciences on the theory of elasticity and her proof of Fermat's Last Theorem, though unsuccessful, was used as a foundation for work on the subject.

Ada Lovelace 

Her overprotective mother, encouraged Ada to stray from her father, Lord Byron's path. The poet left Ada and her mother in England after a scandal shortly after his daughters birth. Ada's mother pushed her toward the study of science and mathematics, later collaborating with the inventor and mathematician Charles Babbage. He gave Ada the responsibility of translating and Italians mathematician's memoir, analyzing his Analytical Engine - some would consider this one of the first computers. Beyond translating the memoir, Ada included her own set of notes and a method for calculating a sequence of Bernoulli number, now acknowledged as the first computer program. 

Sofia Kovalevskaya 

Like Sophie Germain, Sofia was not allowed to attend university due to her sex. She contracted a marriage with Vladimir Kovalevsky and moved to Germany. There, she  was tutored and after writing treatises on partial differential equations, Abelian integrals and Saturn's rings, received a doctorate degree. She was later appointed lecturer in mathematics at the University of Stockholm and later became the first woman in that region to become a full time professor. In 1988 she won the Prix Bordin from the French Academy of Sciences and in 1989 won a prize from the Swedish Academy of Sciences the next year. 

Emmy Noether (1882-1935)

Albert Einstein, in 1935 wrote a letter to the New York Times describing deceased Emmy Noether as "the most significant creative mathematical genius thus far produced since the higher education of women began." After receiving her PhD, for a dissertation on abstract algebra she had a hard time obtaining a position a university position. She overcame this hurdle by moving to America and becoming a lecture and researcher at Bryn Mawr College and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. There, she developed many mathematical foundations for Einstein's general theory of relativity while making advances in the field of algebra. 

                                  
    Maryam Mirzakhani - Fields Medallist

More recently, in 2014, the first woman was awarded the Fields Medal. Awarded by a committee from the International Mathematical Union (IMU), the Fields Medal is almost synonymous with a Nobel Prize in the world of mathematics. The medal, usually awarded to between two and four researchers, must be younger than 40, motivating the winner to strive for "further achievement" as well as recognizing their success. Maryam Mirzakhani broke the male dominated winning streak, dating back to 1936. As a moment hailed as "long overdue", Mirzakhani was recognized for her work on complex geometry. Professor Dame Frances Kirwan, a member of the medal selection committee, expresses her contempt toward the math field and how it is viewed as "a male preserve", while women have contributed to mathematics for centuries. She describes Mirzakhani's win: "I hope that this award will inspire lots more girls and young women, in this country and around the world, to believe in their own abilities and aim to be the Fields Medallists of the future." 

Sources: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/five-historic-female-mathematicians-you-should-know-100731927/?no-ist
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28739373

Throwback Fact: The Mathematical Association of America

In a couple of weeks the Center of Math will be attending the Joint Mathematics Meeting (JMM) in Seattle. The American Mathematical Society (AMS) and the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) run this annual event, which is one of the largest mathematics meeting in the world. To get ready for our trip, the Center of Math wanted to write about the history of the MAA for this weeks Throwback Fact. And if your wondering why we aren’t talking about the AMS, it’s because we already did a Throwback Fact on them, which you can check out here. So keep reading to learn more about the MAA!

Current logo by the MAA. Visit their website here!