Two math celebrations are coming up: Pi Day and World Maths Day
Pi Day
Pi Day is an annual celebration commemorating the mathematical constant π (pi). It is observed March 14 since 3, 1, and 4 are the three most significant digits of π in the decimal form.
Daniel Tammet, a high-functioning autistic savant, held the European record for reciting pi from memory to 22,514 digits in five hours and nine minutes until 2015 when Rick de Jong of the Netherlands recited pi to 22,612 digits in five hours and 34 minutes. His record was then broken by Rajveer Meena of India, who recited 70,000 digits in 2015 blindfolded. It took over nine hours. That remains the world record to date.
. Here’s how you can memorize the first 100 digits of Pi:
Here are some websites students will enjoy to enrich the day (click for updates on this list):
- Calculating Pi with Real Pies–crazy video, but lots of views
- Discovering Pi with Google Sheets
- Find your Pi Day–where is your birthday in the endless numbers of Pi? Created by Wolfram
- Miles of Pi–Numberphile; video
- Music created with Pi — addictive song
- Pi Day Activities with Google Sheets
- Pi Day Math Art–Pi Skyline
- Pi Day PE activities
- Pi Day WebQuest
- Pi Poems
- Pi Song — video; cute
World Maths Day
The first World Maths Day was first held on March 14, 2007 (also Pi Day), but this year is on March 26, 2025. It is one of the world’s largest global educational events aimed at lifting numeracy standards in a fun and meaningful way. If you wish to celebrate with fun maths events, take a look at this video from the World Maths Day Website:
Up to 4 million students world-wide participate in the online competition. The competition measures speed in arithmetic and numeracy skills on the Live Mathletics platform and runs for 48 hours and is open to all schools around the world. Students compete online with other students and top scores are displayed on a live ‘Hall of Fame’. If you think you’re up to it, check out this young Nigerian’s one-minute effort:
@worldedugames
–image credit Deposit Photo