National Pi Day Celebrates Math

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RENEE MONTAGNE, host:

For math fans today, it is a special occasion. March 14th, or 3/14, is World Pi Day. The date to celebrate that symbol that represents 3.1416--and on and on, if we didn't round up. Try to expand the digits, and you might get them out of order. A blogger says that's what singer Kate Bush did in a recent song about PI.

(Soundbite of Kate Bush, singing)

MONTAGNE: In places like math departments, people will celebrate by eating pie. At the Exploratorium in San Francisco, children will gather around what's described as a Pi Day shrine to sing Pi Day songs and perform Pi Day rites. And in cyberspace, there's the annual ritual Drop of the Giant Pi. And you thought you had to wait until New Year's Eve to have this much fun.

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