Super Pi day is coming!
Whet
her or not you’re a math aficionado, you may remember pi to be the ratio of a circle’s circumference (the length all the way around) to its diameter (the width across the circle). This number is symbolized by the Greek letter ∏. Pi is a unique number in that despite computers dividing it out to millions of places, no number sequence has been found to repeat itself – a number stretching as far to infinity as we can imagine it.
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Generally, Pi is abbreviated to 3.14 to make it manageable, and every March 14 social media will be inundated with Pi(e) memes and many pies will be baked in the number’s honor (I admit, I’m guilty of this one, too, even though I avoid higher math at all costs). This year, however, is a Super Pi day – at 9:26:54 a.m., the time will match Pi to ten digits – 3.14159265358, a phenomena that rarely happens.
The first known celebration of Pi day was by Larry Shaw, a physicist at the San Francisco Exploratorium, in 1988. Staff and public alike marched around a circular space and enjoyed eating fruit pies.
Celebrate Pi day by enjoying circles, even if you don’t feel like doing the math. Spin your wheels, have a donut with your coffee, or perhaps just spin your desk chair to enjoy the centrifugal force. Or, go all the way and enjoy some Pi(e), such as this simple blueberry pie (which can be made sugar-free with an artificial sweetener):
Blueberry Pie (because blueberries are circular, too!) :
4 cups blue berries
1 9” baked pie crust
¾ cup of sugar
¼ cup of water
3 Tbsp of cornstarch
¼ tsp salt
1 Tbsp Gran Marnier liqueur
1 tsp butter
Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream
Bake your pie crust, let it cool.
Spread 2 cups of the berries in the pie crust. Refrigerate until chillled.
Simmer remaining 2 cups of berries, sugar, water, cornstarch, and salt in a heavy-bottomed saucepan until thickened, stirring frequently (@ 7 minutes). Remove from heat.
Mix in Gran Marnier and butter. Cool completely.
Pour blueberry sauce over berries in piecrust. Refrigerate until welll chilled.
Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.
Enjoy!
United States of Pie by Adrienne Kane
The Cheshire Library Blog 