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View Full Version : Happy Pi Day Everyone

Pumpkinstew
22-07-2009, 12:15
22/7 is the day for celebrating Pi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi_Day)(in countries that can get the month and day in the right order at least)

So go out and get some pi for lunch. MMMmmmm pi.:cool:
Kreeeee
22-07-2009, 12:19
I actually know Pi to 15 decimal places... just don;t ask me why as I have no idea.
Rich_L
22-07-2009, 12:22
I actually know Pi to 15 decimal places... just don;t ask me why as I have no idea. My pitiful excuse is a school trip, a long bus ride and a scientific calculator..oh what fun we had ;D
Pumpkinstew
22-07-2009, 13:03
I know 15 places to get pie :p
Jonny69
22-07-2009, 16:07
I was about to say why didn't they ever teach me pi was 22/7, but it isn't.
Roberta
22-07-2009, 16:10
Mmmm, pie.
Stan_Lite
23-07-2009, 08:40
I was about to say why didn't they ever teach me pi was 22/7, but it isn't.

I was taught that it was a rough approximation, useful for quick and dirty mental estimates but should never be used for anything that mattered.
Kreeeee
23-07-2009, 11:24
I was taught that it was a rough approximation, useful for quick and dirty mental estimates but should never be used for anything that mattered.

It's only accurate to 2 decimal places!
Stan_Lite
23-07-2009, 11:38
It's only accurate to 2 decimal places!

Which is accurate enough for a rough estimate :)
Kreeeee
23-07-2009, 13:43
An incredibly rough, rough estimate.
Stan_Lite
23-07-2009, 14:42
An incredibly rough, rough estimate.

Not all that rough. If someone asks me the approximate volume of a storage tank measuring 10 metres in diameter by 10 metres high, it doesn't really matter whether I say it's 785.398163 cubic metres or 785.71 cubic metres. He probably only wants to know that it holds just shy of 800,000 litres. The difference being, I can work out the second figure in my head in about 20 seconds and can answer almost immediately, for the first figure I'd need to find a calculator.

It depends on where you are and what you're doing. It's very rare in my line of work to need to be that accurate - when you're looking at an 800,000 litre tank, 0.04% error is usually good enough for an estimate. If, on the other hand I worked with pharmaceutical equipment and I needed to know the exact volume of a 5 microlitre pipette, 0.04% error would be unacceptable.
Treefrog
23-07-2009, 19:19
I like your thinking Stan, it's teh same level of accuracy that is needed when asked questions like: how much does a 25 room mansion cost, how fast can supercar XYZ go, how much does it hurt when a shark bites you?

The most relevant answer in all the above cases is 'lots'! Any further detail is irrelevant really ;D