Random π facts

Why the Letter π?

π wasn’t always known as π. Sometimes referred to as Archimedes’ constant or Ludolph’s number, the usage of the greek letter π to represent this constant first appears in 1706 by William Jones and was later popularized by Euler.

The usage of π is probably derived from the Greek words περιφέρεια (periphery/ circumference) or from περίμετρον (perimetron/ perimeter).

π-day

Π day is celebrated every year on March 14th, at 1:59, (remember π=3.14159…). March 14th also happens to be Albert Einstein’s birthday, another reason to celebrate. Traditionally the festivities include pie.

π the Author

If the digits of π are really completely random and continue forever, then logically any number must be found somewhere in the endless string of digits. By extension, the binary translation for any word, sentence, paragraph or even book must be somewhere in the binary pi. Within π's endless string of 0s and 1s are all the books ever written.

You can search the first four billion binary digits of pi for yourself at pi.nersc.gov.