Thursday, 1 November 2012

Longest Pi Chain


Pi Day is an unofficial  holiday commemorating the  existence of the mathematical constant Pi. The Pi Day is observed on March 14 (or 3/14 in month/day (date format) since 3, 1 and 4 are the three most  significant digits  of π in the decimal form. In 2009, the  United States House of Representatives supported the designation of Pi Day. This was the day to celebrate    the existence and importance of the mathematical constant.  The   Masuk   High School students, with help from local preschoolers, assembled a pi paper chain made of 75,000   links ,using a different color for each of the ten digits of pi .Thus they set the record for the Longest Pi Chain.
Students at Masuk High School   found every grand way possible to mark   the occasion   in a geometric style by   making   the   pi chain in a circle formation. A color-coded paper-link chain was wound around itself many times over, forming a giant circle in the middle of the Masuk High School gymnasium floor. Mary Ahlers,   Masuk Math Department chairwoman, said pi is 3.14, and the numbers to the right of the four go on into infinity and never repeat. Pi is the measure around a circle and the measure of the longest distance across divided to get 3.14. On Pi Day, March 14, Ahlers and the high school’s math teachers decided their students should go for the world record for making a loop paper chain representing digits in pi.
The current record of the pi chain having 75000 links easily surpassed the  previous  Longest  Pi Chain  record of mere 65,000 links. Ahlers who was the Maths   Head pointed out that the chain measured   a length of more than   a mile when stretched.  Pi is an irrational number that represents the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. Its decimal representation never ends or repeats. Mathematicians have thus far computed 5 trillion digits of the decimal expression.   Different shades of colored paper represented different numbers on the paper pi chain. The circle was several layers thick and it took 30 students to move it on a large tarp.
The Longest  Pi chain   with 75000 links was set by Masuk High School Students at Monroe, Connecticut, United States of America on April 8,2011.




No comments:

Post a Comment