I’ve never been a big math person so I’ll probably skip the festivities.

Kaitlin Mulhere of Inside Higher Ed reports.

Pi Day of the Century

Math’s annual day in the headlines is approaching, and this year, the spotlight is extra exact. That’s because Saturday is the most accurate Pi Day of the entire 21st century.

Pi Day is celebrated every March 14 in honor of the mathematical constant pi. The number, which rounds to 3.14, represents the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.

With pies and puns a plenty, Pi Day has grown beyond its beginnings as a geek holiday into one of math’s more recognizable public celebrations.

This year, the calendar date aligns with two additional digits of pi, 3.1415. That won’t happen again until March 14, 2115. On college campuses, math and science student groups are using the historical significance as a marketing tool to draw crowds to annual Pi Day festivities.

The most popular activities include pie-eating contests, recitation competitions and raffles to pie a professor. The promise of free pie also attracts students to lectures about pi and the importance of math in daily life.

On many campuses, the events also serve as a fund-raising opportunity for student groups. That’s the case at Villanova University, where the math club plans to sell pies to benefit a nonprofit organization in Ecuador.

In Oregon, Clatsop Community College’s annual event usually draws around 200 people, both college students and local families. This year, organizers are expecting at least that number to participate in pi-themed art making, trivia and games. A band named the π’d π’pers will play semioriginal songs including “I Will Survive Math Class,” sung to the tune of Gloria Gaynor’s hit, and “Mathematical Pi,” set to the tune of Don McLean’s classic.