Today is March 14 (3/14), which bears a striking resemblance to the mathematical constant, pi (3.14159265359) and has officially been dubbed Pi Day.
The first official Pi Day celebration was organized by Larry Shaw, a physicist, in 1988 at the San Francisco Exploratorium. Now, anybody that touches math recognizes Pi Day, even the U.S. House of Representatives (since 2009) officially celebrates 3.14...
In the world of machining, math is vital to everything we do, and using pi is no different. While the infinite number isn't obviously used, it is part of a massive number of calculations and formulas throughout the Machinery's Handbook.
It's also buried throughout the coding of the CAM that we use everyday, in everything from bolt patterns to constant surface footage calculations on a lathe.
To that end, machinists were celebrating Pi Day way before it was cool, even if it was without realizing it. Needless to say, pi is vital to the world of machining, so happy Pi Day!
