Dolmen of Sorginetxe, Basque Country, Álava, Spain
Dolmen of Sorginetxe, Basque Country, Álava, Spain (© David Herraez Calzada/plainpicture)
Pi in the sky
Calculating the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter is as easy as pi. Today is Pi Day, an event that celebrates this mathematical constant. This date was chosen because 3, 1, and 4 are the first three significant figures of pi (π) when it is written out. Pi is an irrational number, which means that it can't be written as a fraction. When written out, its decimal representation goes on infinitely without repeating. The oldest attempts to calculate pi date back to ancient Babylon and Egypt, around 1900 BCE.
© David Herraez Calzada/plainpicture