Happy Pi Day!#️⃣
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Season 2: Episode 84 Description
Ten News Gets Extra: 🤣 Did you know that 3.14 percent of sailors are pi-rates?🥧Pi Day is March 14th (3/14 🤯) and here to tell you all about it is Ten News Correspondent Sarah Namias. ✔️ Fun Fact Check: NASA Scientists use pi to figure out if there's life outside of earth? And, test your ancient construction knowledge on today's Trivia on the Ten. ✅
Sources
Student Project: 18 Ways NASA Uses Pi | NASA/JPL Edu
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TRANSCRIPT:
Ryan Willard 0:04
3.14 ummmmm...
Bethany Van Delft 0:08
What are you doing over there, Ryan?
Ryan Willard 0:10
Just seeing how many digits of Pi can remember 3.1456789, No 3.14pxqtgz... No, what comes next?
Bethany Van Delft 0:22
Don't give up, Ry. From the pyramids to outer space. There is one special number that we need. I'm Bethany Van Delft. It's Saturday, March 12th. And today we're celebrating Pi Day. This is the Ten News Gets Extra.
Sound Bit 0:38
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Bethany Van Delft 0:46
Pi Day is March 14th, aka 314, which is the first three digits of the number Pi. Are you scratching your head? I'm calling in back up. Here's Ten News correspondent Sarah Namias with the scoop on Pi.
Sarah Namias 1:05
What is all the fuss about Pi Day? Are we supposed to eat pie, something about math, circles, what is going on? Well, actually, it's all of that. March 14th is famously known as Pi Day. And that's pi spelled p-i, not p-i-e, as in the one we eat. If you're like me and need to visualize something to really understand it, then listen closely. Imagine you're drawing a circle or a round pie if you will, you can draw it on paper or even just draw it in the air. Okay, now imagine you have a measuring tape and can measure the distance all around the edge of the circle. That's called the circumference. Now pick up your invisible air pen again and imagine you're drawing a line from one side of your circle to the other side. That's called the diameter. It's the distance across the circle. When you divide the circumference, the distance around by the diameter the distance across you get a drumroll, please. The number 3.14 is represented by the Greek letter Pi. What's so cool about pi is that it's the answer you'll get any time you divide a circle circumference by its diameter, no matter the size of the circle, be it a plate, a coin, or a planet, the ratio is always going to equal 3.14 or pi. The Pi symbol was first used in the 1700s and appears in many formulas in math and physics. PI's value is 3.14, which is why Pi Day is celebrated on 314. But that number is an approximation. The real value of pi is 3.1415926535... The three dots signify that the numbers go on forever, literally forever. Whoa. This fact tickles a lot of people's fancy and is inspired by math enthusiasts across the world to see just how many digits of Pi they can recite. In 2015, a man in India set a world record when he correctly recited more than 70,000 digits of pi. And it took him about 17 hours to do so is no way the high day was declared a national holiday in 2009. Celebrating it has taken on a life of its own. And adding to the fun is that 314 also happens to be Albert Einstein's birthday, which is fitting since Einstein is known to be one of the greatest physicists of all time. And yes, people love celebrating the day by eating pie, the pie he won, so go ahead and enjoy your favorite pie. And just don't forget to measure it first.
Bethany Van Delft 4:27
Thanks, Sarah. Ooh, my favorite pie. That is easy. Pecan Pie, yum! To celebrate Pi Day, we have some Ten'ers to recite as many digits of Pi as they can remember. And of course, what their favorite flavor of pie is, and why.
Rhea 4:48
Hi, I'm Rhea and I'm 12 years old. I've memorized about nine digits of pi. I memorized 3.14159265. And my favorite pie is apple pie because my grandpa used to always buy it for me.
Maddie 5:05
Hi, my name is Maddie. I'm from New Jersey. And this is how many numbers I remember from the number pi 3.1415926535. My favorite pie is apple pie because I love apples so much.
Millie 5:26
Millie, 12 years old. 3.14159265358979323846. My favorite type of pie is peach blackberry pie because I enjoy summer fruits.
Ryan Willard 5:47
Okay, wait, Bethany, who are these geniuses and why can they remember more numbers of pi than me?
Bethany Van Delft 5:52
Those are some of the Ten'ers, Rhea, Maddie, and Millie. Also, Maddie is only seven years old. FYI. What? Maybe you should practice Ryan. Unless you want to keep losing to them.
Ryan Willard 6:05
Maybe I will practice. And then maybe we can have them back next year for Pi Day and I'll show them who the master of the Pi really is. Spoiler. It's me. Well, I will be the master of Pi. Next year. 3.15. No. 3.14.
Bethany Van Delft 6:23
Yes, I see. Okay, well, definitely keep practicing Ryan. Good luck with that. There are so many cool things about the number Pi. Tessa, do you have any tidbits about it?
Tessa Flannery 6:37
I have one from space. Did you know NASA scientists use Pi to figure out the habitable zone around distant stars? When scientists discover new planets, they want to know if these worlds could support carbon-based life like us. These potentially habitable worlds orbit in the habitable zone of their stars. A location that's a safe distance from the star. If a planet is too close, water would turn to gas. And if it's too far, water would become ice.
Bethany Van Delft 7:05
Ooh, maybe the next habitable planet we find can support carbon-based life. And pecan pie. Yum. You always have the best tidbits. Thanks, Tessa. Up next, it's time for...
Sound Bit 7:21
What, what, what's the big idea?
Bethany Van Delft 7:24
Trivia on the Ten. There's one famous structure from the ancient world whose builders used pi in its construction. Which famous building is it? Is it a) Taj Mahal? b) the Great Pyramid or c) the Sphinx? Did you guess it? The answer is B, the Great Pyramid's builders used pi to make the pyramid twice as tall as it is wide. And the whole thing is only about 10 centimeters off. Wow. How did they do that? You say for a long time historians weren't sure how the ancient Egyptians managed this since pie wasn't discovered until about 2000 years after the Great Pyramid was built. Now scientists are pretty sure that the Egyptians design the pyramid using a wheel that's incredible. And since a wheel is a circle pie is built in. Okay, all this pie talk is making me want to go bake something. But before we go, here's a quick note for the grownups. Thanks for listening to the Ten News. Watch out for our new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and extras on Saturdays. The Ten News is a coproduction of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and is distributed by iHeartRadio. The Ten News creative team is in an aggressive pie-eating contest and includes Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Ryan Willard, Logan Deyoung, and Tessa Flannery, Sara Namias contributed to this episode. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle. And our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Bethany Van Delft, and thanks for listening to the Ten News. I know I said my favorite pie is pecan, but I forgot all about key lime pie and banana cream pie and chocolate bavarian pie, blueberry pie, pumpkin pie. Oh, sweet potato pie. I just love them all, bye!
