The Philosophical Pi or Why 3.1415…Is More Than Just a Number

It’s Pi Day. The day of the year when the date matches the first three numbers of pi — 3.14. Though we should not forget the absolute scientific/chronologic euphoria of March 14, 2015 — or 3.1415. While much of the world is throwing out puns as quickly as they can bake them up, hosting pie eating contests, reciting as many digits of pi as memory allows, or otherwise going about their business wondering why all the fuss, pi is not being celebrated for its true awesomeness — understanding existence itself.

Ok. Maybe that’s a bit too deep but there’s a lot more to pi than meets the eye. We know that pi represents the ratio between a circle and its diameter. This is an interesting fact in mathematics alone because no matter the size of the circle, there it is like a friend staring at you from across the room while you focus on something else. Hi Pi, do you need something?

But the funny thing about a circle is that when you measure the circumference, you always end up in the same place. This is ironic considering how the understanding of pi has moved so much of our understanding of the world forward. Understanding the concept of pi helps us understand the circles in our own lives better. The curve of a wave and the bends of a river. We can predict the natural order of things and recognize patterns in the complex. It’s in Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle and the Schrödinger wave equation, tires and oscillations, in probabilities and darts, and even our seasons.

But what also makes pi fascinating is that it is never ending. We can never know pi and if we never know pi we can never truly know everything. When we figure out the area of a circle, we’re figuring out an approximate area of the circle because we typically use pi to a certain digit— but how far off are we? When we try to track pi down as far as we can go it can always keep going. So while we can never know pi, we also know we can never know pi.

Consider the drama in this fact.

As we pursue facts and truths and understanding, as we discover new planets, new depths of the mind, new understanding of the social world, new elements and insects and ideas. We will never fully understand it all. Pi isn’t just an irrational number, it’s a symbol of a central philosophy of science — there’s always more to know.

The March for Science Chicago is on a mission to support, safeguard, celebrate and encourage science in society and government. Join us on April 22, 2017 as we take a stand for science.