Talk:Pi Day/Archive 1

Pi Day

I've also seen 22 July as Pi Day (22/7). I'm not sure how common this is, so I've refrained from putting it in the article for now. --Zundark, 2002 Jan 4

Polish TeX group (GUST) is also celebrating Pi Day. Should we add it? szopen

Sure, go ahead and add it! Also I've made a link to Pi Approximation Day which was referred to above. --Chuck Smith

should the UK pi day be 31st April? ;-) -- Tarquin

Should the article be titled "Pi Day" or "Pi day"?

I'd say Pi Day, like May Day, Labor Day, Arbor Day, Christmas Day, yadda yadda. --Brion

Tarquin: since 1 AU = earth's orbital radius, 1 radian = 1 au. in this case the two terms are interchangable, you can use radians or AU. However, since the earth's orbit is eliptical instead of round, it would probably be safer to use AU. - Tim

Too many alternate days

There are too many alternate days for celebrating pi approximation day, with ppl talking about radians of the Earth's orbit, different portions of March elapsing etc and I highly doubt that all of these are actually celebrated. Also, most of these alternate days still rely on people using the uncommon month/day/year format. If none of these alternate days are celebrated by a significant number of people, they should be removed. Wikipedia should not be suggesting alternate days; it should only be reporting existing ones. Owen214 (talk) 02:32, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Corrected Pi Day?

I removed the statement that a more accurate pi day would be "March 4th at 9:20:41 AM, which is 0.141592653589 into the 3rd month (March)." It seems rather out of place where it was at, I was thinking tha making a list of possible days that pi is celebrated would be a better location, or within a sentence in the main section? I also fixed User:MoogleCrusader's link below, it had some crazy-go-nuts html stuck in it. --TSD

• So how about reorganizing it instead of just removing it entirely? Better disorganized info than no info, IMO. --Luke-Jr (talk) 01:37, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

Pi Day Reference Problem

is it just me, or are all of the references on the pi day page all deleted by the site referenced or need a paid subscription?

none of the references work. would somebody please fix this? User:MoogleCrusader 22:54, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

Pi Approximation Day

...get a life

Are you sure about this?
Back home, we always celebrate Pi Approximation Day on April 26th. This is the day on which the planet Earth completes approximately 2 Astronomical units' worth of its annual orbit, in other words orbit / part travelled = pi.

-)

A better Pi day would be 31 April.ping 09:09, 23 Oct 2003 (UTC)

I've added the first one to the article, what about April 31st, why that date? --Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason 01:36, 2004 Jul 23 (UTC)

There is no 31 April. Angela. 18:58, Jul 23, 2004 (UTC)

In many places, the standard format for writing dates is day/month/yeay, not moneth/day/year. In the d/m/y format, April 31st is 31/4, while March 14th is 14/3. Angela's observation is there is no 31st April is, of course, mere pedantry :-) Oh, and happy Pi Day! 82.33.127.78 08:49, 14 Mar 2005 (UTC)

This can't be right

"the day on which planet Earth completes two Astronomical units' worth of its annual orbit: on this day the total length of Earth's orbit, divided by the length already traveled, equals π (that is, the Earth has travelled one radian in its orbit)."

Shouldn't that be two radians (two AU = two radians)?

Yes. I have changed this.

Now, would anyone care to figure out when Ultimate Pi Day would be in the (say) Islamic calendar?  :-) —Dah31 01:22, 12 October 2005 (UTC)

It should be two radians, but if that got changed, it must have been reverted. I don't really see what's special about two radians compared to, say, one radian. I changed the date[1] to reflect that, since then I could also remove the blurb about leap years, simplifying things a bit. Any thoughts? —HorsePunchKid→龜 2007-03-14 21:30:39Z

See also "February 27?", below. --Aleph4 (talk) 17:53, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Deletion?

• Pi Approximation Day This is made up. A joke. It does not belong in an encyclopaedia. MrJones 18:06, 19 Oct 2003 (UTC)
  • I've never heard of that one, but there is Pi Day, which is March 14 (3/14). That's kind of a joke too, but it's a "real joke" I suppose. Adam Bishop 18:18, 19 Oct 2003 (UTC)
    • That page also should die. MrJones 19:24, 19 Oct 2003 (UTC)
      • Why? In any case, at least we don't have an article about the Prime Number Shitting Bear :) (Yet...) Adam Bishop 19:38, 19 Oct 2003 (UTC)
        • It is rubbish and doesn't tell one anything. Why keep it? I don't deny it exists, but should we have informaton about every 'day' that gets invented? Every site that refers to it that I found was either cranky or otherwise full of nonsense. It doesn't really bear consideration. Throw it out. MrJones 20:07, 19 Oct 2003 (UTC)
          • Actually, at my high school (albeit a math and science HS) we did celebrate Pi day. And I've heard several other references to it since then. It's a legit phenomenon --Raul654 20:47, 19 Oct 2003 (UTC)
          • Just because it's strange doesn't mean it should be deleted. Evil saltine 00:27, 20 Oct 2003 (UTC)
          • We had Pi Day at my high school too (although I don't really recall anything special happening, except the math and science teachers being excited...) Adam Bishop 00:44, 20 Oct 2003 (UTC)
  • Delete. I would say that Pi Day is quite enough, thank you. -- BCorr ¤ Брайен 00:52, 21 Oct 2003 (UTC)
  • Keep. Wartortle 21:36, 22 Oct 2003 (UTC)
  • Move content to pi and redirect. -- Minesweeper 01:32, Oct 21, 2003 (UTC)
  • Pi Day is definitely real. PAD I'd never heard of, but it seems to get plenty of Google hits. Yes, I think we should keep information on 'days' if they're really observed (by a non-negligible number of people). The information could as well be folded into pi, as long as it's kept, but I don't see the need. -- VV 07:59, 21 Oct 2003 (UTC)
    • How can the number of observers be assessed? The size (and seriousness) of the instituting body is more obtainable. I agree with you, broadly, though. 217.206.44.122 17:21, 21 Oct 2003 (UTC)
  • Delete. If we list every made-up holiday celebrated by 50 random people, there will be a lot of extra nonsense. Daniel Quinlan 08:46, Oct 21, 2003 (UTC)
  • I propose to merge into Pi Day - unless that one is also a deletion candidate, that is. Andre Engels 08:56, 21 Oct 2003 (UTC)
  • agreed, merge with Pi day. ping 09:13, 23 Oct 2003 (UTC)
  • Merge with Pi Day - which should be kept, real day. -- Jake 14:26, 24 Oct 2003 (UTC)

merged. All is well with the world. Martin 21:18, 24 Oct 2003 (UTC)

• Well, better, I suppose. Hurumph. It's still not clear what should be done about 'days' in general. Do we need criteria, or is consensus enough? There are a lot of silly invented ones out there (far worse that this one, I'll grant you). MrJones 00:58, 25 Oct 2003 (UTC)
• I've raised a similar point on Wikipedia_talk:Deletion_policy. MrJones 01:17, 25 Oct 2003 (UTC)
• I'm sorry, this whole Pi Day page is nonsense. It is not an official day recognized by any country or any major religion. I'm not sure joke articles belong in Wikipedia. Worse yet as a joke, it isn't even funny. Sour pickle 04:50, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
  • If it's nonsense to you because of it not being a religious or national holiday, I bring to your attention that there is another category of holidays, the geek holidays. There is a world beyond what is recognized by governments and religons. Nothing to be sorry about. --BrendanRyan 09:04, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
    • *giggles* --Ihope127 15:47, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

• • Even if I did think this page was a waste of time and space, it's nowhere near the waste that this whole arguement is. It's obvoise that Mr. Jones doesn't like this page, but there are definately more than "50 random people" that celebrate this day. I have gone to two different high schools, one in Indianna and one in California and I had multiple teachers in both schools that celebrated pi day. I'm a major celebrator (I mean major as in I decorate my house, make pi day shirts, eat lots of pies, and even memorize digits of pi) so I mention it to lots of people and you'd be suprised how many people have heard of it. Regardless, I think everyone just needs to calm down and let the page be.Nathan Wonnacott

• • • I'm from Sweden, and the math teachers on our school in seventh to ninth grade celebrated Pi Day, while in tenth to twelfth grade, the science teachers celebrated both Pi Day and Pi Approximation Day (22/7). Something celebrated in some schools in several countries is something spread enough to be worthy of a Wikipedia article if you ask me. And on the notion of "made up" that some people insisted on bringing up, religious holidays are also made up. Maybe Rastafari and The Flying Spaghetti Monster shouldn't have an article because it's sarcasm? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.11.218.215 (talk) 18:24, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

I concure with my brother, Pi Day is more than just some random day someone thought up, I've been to schools in Indiana, California, and now Utah were Pi Day is observed. It is a legitimate holiday and is practiced by far more than the few math fanatics one would expect. Jared Wonnacott

• • holidays do not need to be official or national in order to to be listed in an encyclopedia. Mother's Day and Father's Day are not official things either. the key here is notability, and i would say as long as it has either geographical spread or large numbers of followers, it is notable, and it meets both. Pi Day is extremely widely celebrated by technical students at universities as well as high schools worldwide. it is definitely more than notable enough to be included in an article. Even if Pi Day IS a joke (I suppose it is?) it is notable enough for coverage in Wikipedia. Wikipedia should cover jokes with such a large following. 18.250.0.177 (talk) 04:31, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

The first Pi Day?

14 March, 1592? :D DX 03:03, Apr 11, 2004 (UTC)

Pi moment?

I would like to remind you all that pi is approximately 3.14159265358979323... meaning that pi moment should occur on March 14, 1592 at 6:53:59 (note the 9, because 589 would round up not down). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.103.74.5 (talk) 23:23, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

From the article:

Some, using a twenty-four-hour clock rather than a twelve hour clock, say that 1:59 PM is actually 13:59 and celebrate it at 1:59 AM instead.

Wouldn't a more accurate approach be to consider it as a 24-hour time, 3/14 15:92:65, subtract the hour from 92 to get 16:32:65, subtract the minute from 65 to get 16:33:05, aka 4:33:05 PM? Otherwise, you're wasting a digit, and making us stay up until 1:59 AM, which is gosh, a whole half hour away for me now! -- John Owens (talk) 07:29, 2005 Mar 14 (UTC)

lol this entry is probably one of the funniest on wikipedia. "Pi Day" -__- wooot math geeeeeeeeks! 142.58.101.46 21:18, 14 Mar 2005 (UTC)

amen, I must say, I've never enjoyed a page more than this. I love you guysNathan Wonnacott

teehee! Millyissa

POV problems

Calling 3.14 "Pi" and 22/7 "pi approximation" is awfully decimal-centric, especially since the latter is closer to the true value of pi. And the integer POV (pi=3) is nowhere to be seen. ;-) DDerby 11:06, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Well, the question should be, "what do people who celebrate these days call them"? What names we think appropriate is irrelevant; this page should exist to encyclopedically record the event as celebrated. There doesn't seem to be much evidence presented that people do celebrate these days, though - all discussion seems to be along the lines of "wouldn't it be cool if...", not "this is celebrated by..." TSP 13:45, 22 July 2005 (UTC)

Hee. Thanks for the laugh. :)

I agree, although it would be fun to come up with all the days we could celebrate it, or should celebrate it, it is celebrated on March 14 by the majority of celebrators. If we all celebrate on differant days, or on all of them, it would loose it's effect. Pi day is March 14th. suck it up.Millyissa

Can you corroborate this?

"(in most non-english speaking parts of the world the pronounciation of pi does not correspond to pies or various drinks, in some languages it corresponds to urine)"

Is this true? - Ianneub 18:19, July 22, 2005 (UTC)

The original author has obscured his meaning in an attempt to appear genteel. His point was that the pronunciation of "pi" in many languages (including, as it happens, Greek) is "pee" rather than "pie". The argument is half-baked, however, since it is in any case extremely unlikely that those languages will include the other words referred to. Largely irrelevant. -- scwimbush 03:43, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

WikiProject Holidays

You may be interested in the WikiProject, WikiProject Holidays, a WikiProject that will focus on standardizing articles about Holidays. It has been around for quite some time, but I'm starting it up again, and would like to see some more members (and our original members) around the help out. Cheers. — Ilγαηερ (Tαlκ) 21:16, 21 August 2005 (UTC)

Another Pi Approximation Day

another good day would be March 14 2015, as one would write that in abbreviation as 3/14/15, and also it's a lot closer than the year 3141 ;]

I'm soooo excited! You guys are all invited to my 3/14/15 party! only like 8 years, 55 days, 12 hours, 38 minutes, 26.53589793238462643383... secondsNathan Wonnacott 21:21, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Reversions of changes to the value

I checked this site: http://www.joyofpi.com/pi.html , and it seems the anons are right after all. Please don't revert the latest change. It is 3.14159265358. — Kimchi.sg | Talk 00:08, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

Changes on March 14, 2006

The anonymous editor User:129.97.83.220 added the claim that

Pi day was invented by the University of Waterloo.

I removed it for the moment. If it is false, it should not be in the article. If it is true, some documentation should be provided; in particular, I doubt that "the university" invented it. It may well have been a particular person (student, processor, staff?) or a particular office in that university. Again, if it is true, there must be some documentation.

I also removed User:70.29.101.177's description

In addition, the businesses ... of the Greater toronto area have started recognizing Pi day. The Pi-oneer Elvin Wong petitioned for months to implement a Pi day celebration.... To be considered an offical Pi day celebration, there must be a minimum of 5 people...

It certainly does not fit into the first paragraph of the article. (If it is true, there could be a subsection "pi day around the world.) Second, "for months" does not make sense if no year is given for Wong's action. But it sounds like something something made up in school one day.

Full text that I removed:

Pi day was invented by the University of Waterloo, which celebrates it annually by bestowing pie on its undergraduates. In addition, the businesses and commercial offices in the Richmond Hill area of Greater Toronto have started recognizing Pi day. The “Pi-oneer”, University of Waterloo graduate hopeful Elvin Wong, petitioned for months to implement a Pi day celebration in the work place. A 20-minute slice of time is taken starting from 1:59pm. To be considered an offical Pi day celebration, there must be a minimum of 5 people to make up the “crust” of the Pi day celebration. Over half of the members of the crust must be attending or be alumni of the University of Waterloo.

Aleph4 22:27, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

Removed alteration of "pi moment" date and time

I reverted the pi moment paragrah from this text, which was inserted by User:207.69.137.27:

The "ultimate" pi moment<ref>At least twice in the West, about a fortnight earlier for those countries (like Russia and the UK) that still used the Julian calendar in 1592.</ref> will occur on March 14, 5358, at 1:59 AM and 26 seconds. When written in American-style date format, this is 3/14,1:59:26, 5358 which corresponds to the value of pi to twelve digits: 3.14159265358.

I highly doubt that Americans write their date and time in MMDDHHmmSSYYYY format. — Kimchi.sg | Talk 08:02, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Unrelated holidays in See also

I think that other unrelated holidays, namely White Day, Steak and Blowjob Day, and Ides of March, should not be listed in the See also section because they have nothing to do with Pi Day. They fall near the same calendar date but that's it. These other holidays are listed in March 14, which is where they belong. Jonathan Kovaciny 22:38, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

Order of Pi Approximation Days List

Those who wish to add more pi approximation days, please keep them in order of their occurrence in the year.
Cormallen 02:43, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

AIMEE math competition-- on this day?

Does anyone know if the AIMEE math tests are traditionally held on this day? At my school, they had the competitions today, on the 13th of March... Abeg92contribs 00:30, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

Pi Equinox, Einstein's Birthday

Two things might be useful to add to this article:

• At my middle school, we used to count down until the "Pi Equinox", 14 March at 1:59:26 pm. (I know it doesn't really work in 24h, but nobody would be up.)
• Albert Einstein's birthday is — no way! — Pi Day.

If anyone cares, Hangfromthefloor 00:56, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

Pi Across America

This is now the second time that User:OrangeMustang has added the Pi Across America link. These two times are the only edits he has made to the wiki. As a rule for myself, I don't go to any suspicious websites (I'm afraid of getting viruses and spy/adware), so I don't know if it is suitable or not. Is this website suitable to be included under external links, or is this just another case of spamming? --LuigiManiac | Talk 19:10, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

I, using FireFox with various extensions, felt comfortable enough to follow the link. The site has various pi-related topics, but is not really about Pi Day, so I removed the link. timrem 20:09, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

Thank you timrem. --LuigiManiac | Talk 20:10, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

2π day

Why isn't there a 2π day on June 28? Heshy613 23:30, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Because that would require twice as much pie to feed the masses.-Wafulz 02:55, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

That and if we celerated Pi at every given chance, it wouldn't be special anymore. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.216.187.41 (talk) 21:40, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

April 26?

See next section. Aleph4 (talk) 20:22, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

February 27?

Do we have any sources that

February 27: The Earth is estimated to have traveled 1 radian of its orbit since the New Year.

is anywhere celebrated as Pi day? It does not make sense to me; 1 radian is ${\frac {1}{2\pi }}$ of the circumference. A reasonable name would be "r" day or "radius/radian" day, or "1 over 2pi" day. --Aleph4 (talk) 17:52, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

This has now been changed to April 26, for 2 radians. Still I don't see why this is pi day, it is rather "1 over pi" day. Of course there are lots of days that could be celebrated as pi Approximation Day, such as March 1 or Jan 3 (as 3.1 is also an approximation), but the question is: do we have any sources that any of these days is celebrated by any group of non-negligible size? --Aleph4 (talk) 20:22, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

styles of writing dates

For some reason I am unable to edit this article. Someone might want to add that 3/14 is not just the American style; while the American style is mm-dd-yyyy, the Chinese style is yyyy年mm月dd号 or mm月dd号 when the year is omitted, which also lends itself to March 14 being Pi Day for them as well (called 圓周率日, although it isn't quite is widely known as it is in America). --18.250.0.177 (talk) 04:24, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

Yes, but Pi Day is a chiefly American holiday, despite all those obvious efforts to present it as something globally recognized. It is no more international than Baseball World Cup, i.e. it makes that typical for the US naive inclusion of the words "world" or "international" in it, but in fact nas no intenational recognition whatsoever. The article is blocked from editing for the sole reson of preventing other people from attemting to remove that obnoxious American bias. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.102.249.143 (talk) 20:49, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

in fact nas no intenational recognition whatsoever. May I ask how you can be so sure about that? Pi Day is recognized outside of the US. While it may still be a mainly American holiday, it's not only American. 81.232.34.132 (talk) 13:13, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

Of course it's only an American thing. The rest of the world would never consider 14th March to signify 3.14. In other countries 14th March would be 14.3. It's unfortunate that April doesn't have 31 days.--Xania ^talk 01:11, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Error in the caption of the UW photo

The caption that reads "Free pie being handed out at the University of Waterloo" should read "Preparing to hand out free pie at the University of Waterloo".

The clock in the photo shows the time as 1:50 (9 minutes before Pi Minute). There is no evidence of anyone in the photo already eating pie. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.148.149.27 (talk) 23:11, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

Really Awkward Sentence

The founder of Pi Day, the "Prince of Pi", is Larry Shaw,[2] now retired from the Exploratorium, but still helping out with the celebrations. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.65.175.197 (talk) 23:44, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

Speaking of really awkward sentences, behold: Pi Approximation Day is observed on July 22, because of Archimedes' popular approximation of π being 22/7. However, this may be considered misleading because mariah christina is small as all cited dates are "approximation days" (as π is an irrational number) and 22/7 is actually a closer approximation of π than 3.14 is.

What or who is mariah christina and what does her/its size have to do with anything?

• scratches head*

-- sign me "Mystery" 14 March 2010, 3:39 a.m. (US Central time) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.226.132.77 (talk) 08:40, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

MIT Decisions and Pi Day

I've heard from various sources that MIT traditionally makes an effort to release their "Regular Action" decisions on Pi Day. So far, it holds true for this year. I'm also quite certain that they try to be as pi-centric as possible without actually going out and saying it. This year, decisions will be released online at "2:00PM" - but the announcement goes on to say that they will "probably post them about a minute early", clearly referring to 1:59 - and though this is PM, I'm quite certain it is simply for convenience's sake. Any thoughts on the matter? 173.88.213.120 (talk) 20:04, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

2009 Image

I think this article should include the new photograph that I've added to it. It's at least as informative as the image of the three pies at MIT, which don't even contain any unusual decorations on them. The image I've added also represents a unique example of someone celebrating Pi Day concurrently with another holiday which happened to coincide with it this year.

If this image gets removed from the article again, I hope that the person removing it provides an explanation for why they're doing so.

Captain Occam (talk) 23:32, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

Very sorry, Captain Occam, but it appears a series of typo errors caused a template in the lede to be broken, and when i fixed it i must have made another typo which removed the lines of text with your img and layout. I hope it is all fixed now? Please let me know if there are other errors, i can't discern in the History where the img and template tags were broken. Thanks ~ Teledildonix314 ~ ^Talk ~ _4-1-1 ~ 23:56, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

It seems to be working properly now. Thanks. Captain Occam (talk) 00:34, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

I have removed this image (working as an ordinary editor, not making any kind of policy statement or decree here) because I was unable to find independent corroboration in a quick google search of the other holiday. We have no article about it, no explanation of it, and the first 20 links in google don't corroborate the existence. It's either (likely) a hoax, or else non-notable.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 23:34, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Okay, thanks very much, i'm glad you said so, because i wanted to say so but i was unsure whether i might be offensively dismissing somebody's holiday due to my ignorance about other people's cultures. ~ Teledildonix314 ~ ^Talk ~ _4-1-1 ~ 02:46, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

It's a rather obscure Revolutionary War holiday celebrated in Princeton, New Jersey on the second Saturday of March. (This year the second Saturday of March was also March 14th, hence the pie.) I was thinking of asking at some point whether Wikipedia ought to have an article about this holiday, because I notice from the Peeing Day page that other users have twice attempted to create this article, the first time being over a year ago, but both times it's been deleted.

What determines notability for a holiday? Looking through Wikipedia's listing of Revolutionary War holidays, I see quite a few articles listed there about similar holidays that are almost as obscure as this one, many of which also have no sources cited. Captain Occam (talk) 07:38, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

I've never personally worked on any other articles about holidays, so i can't give you a good specific answer, but the place to start looking for an answer would be on the general Notability guidelines help~pages, and from there you might find more thorough coverage of how to determine appropriately. Hope that helps! (and don't be discouraged if something is deemed "non-notable" at this time, because in many situations there is an evolution of awareness which might eventually bring about enough notability in the future.) ~ Teledildonix314 ~ ^Talk ~ _4-1-1 ~ 20:59, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

I've looked at the Notability Guidelines, but something I find confusing about them is that according to that page, several of the other Revolutionary War holidays covered by Wikipedia shouldn't be considered notable either. The guidelines state that in order to be considered notable, the topic of an article must have "significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject." In the case of Halifax Day, the only relevant results returned by Google are this and this, both of which have only a few sentences about this holiday, which I don't think can be considered "significant" coverage.

Am I misinterpreting these guidelines? Or does this mean that the article about Halifax Day should be deleted also? Captain Occam (talk) 23:10, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

No, i don't think you're misinterpreting, i think you are actually quite correct. As a result, those articles such as Halifax Day are typically "merged" into more broad articles (for example, that particular item might eventually be merged into something more general about holidays in North Carolina), and in some cases they become "candidates for deletion" in which case they will be removed from the encyclopedia.... but if editors find lots of sources and proof of notability in the future, then those articles might be "RE-created" and become able to avoid deletion. It's not uncommon for some articles to be deleted two or three times, because they gain very tiny incremental amounts of notability, but fail to meet a certain threshhold, until eventually some of them gain large amounts of notability, and survive because editors find enough indisputable Reliable Sources of books and newspapers (and in the case of some holidays: official governmental decrees) to stay far above the "deletion threshhold".

In the case of Peeing Day, you mentioned it was already deleted twice. Don't be discouraged, this is typical of many articles. Perhaps it will just take a while for it to become more notable. Also, you might be able to determine whether it is the sort of topic which could theoretically be included as a "mention" in some other more broad and general "parent category"... maybe a category covering a number of holidays which don't each merit their own individual articles but do as a group deserve to be described collectively in a larger topic. I don't know if there exists any such appropriate topic, but that's often the solution to these kinds of situations. ~ Teledildonix314 ~ ^Talk ~ _4-1-1 ~ 23:49, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

National Pie Day

Should we note on the page that Pi Day should not be confused with National Pie Day, January 23rd? [2] ~ Quacks Like a Duck (talk) 16:35, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

Pi Second

..., whatever hour it is attached to, would be 27, not 26. Pi is 3.1415926*5*, which rounds up. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.40.154.65 (talk) 17:48, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

Removal of Einstein's Birthday information.

This is my second time coming back to remove information about Pi Day also being Albert Einstein's birthday. While this is most certainly verifiably, this article is not the place for this information because it violates Wikipedia inclusion policies. I understand that popular culture may see these events as intertwined, but it is simply a coincidence with a somewhat similar theme. March 14 is the only article that should document both of these facts.

Wikipedia articles cannot include cherry-picked facts (WP:INDISCRIMINATE). Just from doing a brief scan of March 14th births, there are at least two other historically-significant mathematical persons that share births on this day, and tens of others in other fields. Why not include them too? O, because they aren't as popular as Einstein...

I do understand that popular culture references are sometimes appropriate on Wikipedia. But WP:POPCULTURE has some questions for verifying viable facts to include: Has the subject acknowledged the existence of the reference? No, there is no mention on piday.com, the official website of Pi Day. If someone else can find other official literature, then you may have a point. Have reliable sources that don't generally cover the subject pointed out the reference? Again, if anyone can find a source WP:IRS, then please present it. I was not able to find one. Did any real-world event occur because of the reference? No, this is a coincidence. Larry Shaw did not choose March 14th because it was Einstein's birthday.

Further, Pi Day and Einstein's birthday being relevant together is only a synthesis of information WP:SYNTHESIS: Joining two independent facts into the conclusion that they are somehow relevant on this article. This is no reason to include it. See WP:NOR. Teimu.tm (talk) 22:21, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

I disagree. As an engineer I've been aware of π day since high school, but I just learned it is also Einstein's birthday this π day, 2011. I expect Wikipedia to connect facts like this. Do you seriously think that there is one person in the world interested in a ridiculous nerdy trivia-based holiday like π day who would not want to know that it is also Einstein's birthday? —Ben FrantzDale (talk) 17:09, 14 March 2011 (UTC)

Of course, all you have to do to "connect the dots" is to click on the date in the article. There are over 250 events that occurred on that day. — Loadmaster (talk) 18:58, 14 March 2011 (UTC)

Pi Approximation Day isn't sourced anywhere

I've kind of just been taking as truth based on the importance it gets in the intro, but Pi Approximation Day has no sources. Unfortunately, while it does seem to be the most legitimate spinoff holiday of Pi Day, it can't be verified as being true. If you have some reliable sources, please add them, or I will eventually remove its mention. Teimu.tm (talk) 05:00, 30 January 2011 (UTC)

Here's a few I just dug up after quick Google searches:[3][4][5][6][7].

Some of these are better sources than others, but I think that any of them could be used.oknazevad (talk) 05:30, 30 January 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for your research Oknazevad. I will indeed be sourcing PAD (Pi Approximation Day) now. Even though they all do display some auras of self-publishing (some even reference this article, and would create a circular reference), I think 4 is the best based it's wide array of content partners. Teimu.tm (talk) 15:01, 30 January 2011 (UTC)

Common Date Format

There's been a bit of back and forth editing over the phrase "the more common" in the sentence "Thus, Pi Approximation Day is celebrated on 22/7 in the more common day/month format, or July 22." This phrase should not be included in the article anywhere, including saying month/day is more common.

First and foremost, this phrase does not add to the readability or comprehension of the sentence, section, or article. If you abstain from including it, I think you will find that the sentence still represents a coherent and focused idea. In fact, by adding the phrase, you add a context about date formats in the world that does not need to be implied on the article about Pi Day. It almost raises the question about where and who thinks it is more common.

Further, the English Wikipedia does not prefer any major national variety of the language (See WP:ENGVAR). While this is a bit different than say, a British-English spelling difference, I think you can extend this to say Wikipedia does not prefer any date format as well. Why should we go down this road of creating a bias towards one date format when, as stated, the phrase does not add anything to the idea?

And finally, if you do want to go down the road of preference, Pi Day has strong American ties (or more precisely, ties to users of month/day date format). The holiday was invented by American physicist Larry Shaw. The first celebration happened in the American city of San Francisco, CA. The holiday's roots are American. Please see WP:STRONGNAT. So in fact, if "the more common" is to be used anywhere, it should be used on the native American format. But, this is overkill, only to display that the phrase certainly should not describing day/month. As said, it shouldn't be said anywhere.

Teimu.tm (talk) 05:24, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

But it is adding useful information. Barely 1% of all countries use the month/day format so it's relatively rare, hence the need to clarify for various people around the world.Billzilla (talk) 05:33, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

I don't think you can assume people's need to clarification. You are indeed correct that worldwide, month/day is not as popular. However, what does this distinction bring to the table about Pi Day? Teimu.tm (talk) 05:45, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

The distinction is that it gives more information. I most certainly do not agree that it does not need clarification. Billzilla (talk) 07:27, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

I am trying to understand where you are coming from so could you please explain why it needs clarification in this article? "Giving more information" on the details detracts from the focus of the article, ALONG with all my previous points about the phrase. And please try to find supporting documentation from Wikipedia's policies and guidelines to back your points. Contradictions will not build consensus among people that disagree with you. Also, let me reiterate that you are perfectly correct that more countries use month/day. I'm simply just saying it's not appropriate here. Teimu.tm (talk) 09:03, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

It is tangential and irrelevant information to the subject "Pi Day". Moreover, to someone in the United States, that format is not the most common; the most prevalent format in that country is month/day. Simply, the discussion about commonality of date formats does not belong here. By the way, stating that "1% of all countries use the month/day format" is disingenous - the US is not the only country to use that format, and the number of people that use it is significantly larger than 1%. Mindmatrix 15:13, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

It is not only tangential and irrelevant, it's also prejudicial; and most importlantly, IT'S UNSOURCED. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 15:39, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

Whilst I accept that Pi Day was an American idea, likening March 14 in US date format to 3.14 is absolutely not self evident without explanation to those of us who use the more common day/month format. It's not an argument about date formats - it's simply that to explain the derivation to those for whom the US date format is unfamiliar it needs to be explicit. Since the day/month format can't accommodate 3/14 as a meaningful date, I think it would make more sense for 22 July to be Pi Day in those countries that use day/month date formats. The use of the awkward term 'Pi Approximation Day' just seems inappropriate to me. Pargy (talk) 13:21, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

The problem with your phrasing is it is just incorrect. March 14 is Pi Day, period. The date does not change depending on the country. Regardless of the date format, that is the date chosen by the founder. Yes, it was chosen because of the month/day format, which may be unfamiliar to some, but it is the date regardless. As for Pi Approximation Day, it's so called not because of anything to do with the date format but because the fraction 22⁄7 is not exactly Pi, but only a somewhat common approximation of it (one that has become less common with calculators being so widespread.) oknazevad (talk) 22:17, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

a bit off topic I know but 22/7 is vastly more precise than 3.14! Pargy (talk) 14:58, 21 July 2011 (UTC)

But not more accurate, as it introduces error at the third decimal place (3.14286, to go to the sixth, as opposed to the actual value of 3.14159 at the fifths decimal place), while 3.14 truncates at the second, avoiding the error altogether. oknazevad (talk) 17:27, 21 July 2011 (UTC)

Pi Day could not have been "invented" by Larry Shaw. I came up with the idea on March 14, 1980 and celebrated Pi Day in my math class at Northport High School, Long Island NY USA, and printed out a banner for the computer room using the PDP-11, consisting of pi out to 62 (20pi) places. (Nicholas Zymaris, nickz@eskimo.com). It would not surprise me if others had come up with the idea beforehand but we hadn't heard of it before. In college there was also a Pi Team that got its name from the residents of room 314 at the dorm, and a number of the other room numbers were expressed in terms of multiples of pi. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.24.25.134 (talk) 20:21, 21 October 2011 (UTC)

Well, that's what the sources say. If you have third-party sources (not just your own claims, which aren't valid sources by Wikipedia standards), then bring them here. oknazevad (talk) 21:33, 24 October 2011 (UTC)

Image

The image presented seems to be of a cheesecake, not of a pie. Should the image be deleted? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rleibman (talk • contribs) 18:38, 14 March 2011 (UTC)

The image has a prominent crust that is uncharacteristic of cheesecakes and more charactertistic of pies such as custard pie. According to the wiki article on Dutch cuisine, one of the things that may characterize southern Dutch cuisine is that: "Pastries are abundant, often with rich fillings of cream, custard or fruits." It may be noted that Delft is in the province of South Holland. I think that retaining the image is in order here. I note also that it has been released into the public domain (hence it need not be removed from commons for copyright paranoia reasons). 164.55.254.106 (talk) 20:03, 14 March 2011 (UTC)

Well put. Despite it origins, Pi Day is not just an American-celebrated holiday. Could someone add an adjective to the caption to clear this up? Desserts are not an area of my expertise. Teimu.tm (talk) 20:11, 14 March 2011 (UTC)

South Holland is not a southern province, rather it is in the west. Besides, that seems to be a more generic custard pie than a Vlaai. 83.85.137.127 (talk) 02:25, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

What are these abstractions doing?

Right now, in the Date abstractions from pi we have a (paraphrasing for illustration):

representation adhering

approximation resembling

date reflecting

π. Slicing hairs, yes. I'm sure everyone gets the point, but it doesn't seem like good style. Anyone have any ideas on how can we be a bit more deliberate and integral with our words here, without being redundant? I was considering a table with headings like Date, Resemblance, Explanation, or something. Teimu.tm (talk) 01:29, 23 March 2011 (UTC)

Honestly, I have no objection to torpedoing the whole section. The explanations of the dates for Pi Day and Pi Approximation Day are redundant to the lead and the history sections, while the last bit about 3/14/15 is trivial. (And it used to be worse until we thinned it out.) So I see no reason to keep it. oknazevad (talk) 02:10, 23 March 2011 (UTC)

Pizone site

I found a web site: Pizone that relates to learning, experiencing, and celebrating pi as well as Pi Day and Pi Approximation day. After looking the existing external references and Pizone, I determined that the Pi Day page would be enhanced by the addition of this link. A very short time later the edit was removed with an opinion that the link was Revert; too spammy. I strongly disagree with the characterization that the link is anything even close to spam. The site in question is an educational site with a particular emphasis on National Pi Day on their home page.

Rather than undo the revert, I have chosen to object both the edit and the remark here and ask that the inclusion if Pizone as an external reference be reconsidered. chongo (talk) 23:23, 23 June 2011 (UTC)

For what it is worth, I heard of Pizone from a science radio show about pi day maybe 2 years ago but I don't recall visiting back then. Was there something wrong with the link? It doesn't look like a spam site to me now. -- Jed 166.205.137.199 (talk) 03:32, 24 June 2011 (UTC)

The first thing on the link was an entry form for a contest. Struck me as an inappropriate link. Certainly didn't give me a good first impression, but I've been wrong before. oknazevad (talk) 03:34, 24 June 2011 (UTC)

Holiday?

I wouldn't call pi Day a holiday. Some sort of observance perhaps, but a holiday normally means time off work. Is there a better description? The Roman Candle (talk) 11:33, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

In American English, "holiday" and "observance" are synonymous, but don't necessarily imply a day off (Americans don't "go on holiday", they "go on vacation"). As this article is written in American English, it's correct. oknazevad (talk) 21:19, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

Links

These links were removed 03/14/2012:

• Official web site for Pi Day
• Pi Day Activity - Memorizing Pi
• Pi Day Challenge - Students have fun with math and logic!
• Pi Day Fun - Calculate Your Pi Age and Pi Birthdays
• piZone Pi education, history and activities including National Pi Day & Pi approximation day
• The Pi Searcher Search for arbitrary digits in Pi. Often updated with new features on Pi Day.
• "A Piece of Pi" Music based on Pi for violin composed for Pi Day to honor Math teachers.
• Website dedicated to the Number Pi.

It seems to me that most of the links are to personal sites. I've moved all but the links to the Exploratorium and NPR here. People can argue if any of them should go back. The first one, in particular, is hardly the "official" web site for an unofficial holiday.

RoyLeban (talk) 04:53, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

The Ultimate Pi Day Of History?

Some claim The “ultimate” pi moment occurred on March 14, 1592, at 6:53 AM and 58 seconds. Here are some facts I have assembled to see if this moment was possible.

• The first actuate clock with a minute hand and seconds was invented by Jost Bürgi in 1577. Only a handful of astronomers could of had these.
• Ludolph van Ceulen published 20 digits of Pi in 1596. At least 11-16 digits were known before his time.
• The Gregorian Calendar was inaugurated in 1582 and used by several European countries. Increased talk of dates and times due to the conversion may have helped.
• Also, using the Greek letter π for the number did not become popular until Euler in 1737.

It’s quite possible that some mathematician with access to one of Bürgi's rare clocks could have made the Pi Day connection to 10(or 12) digits, but the closest anyone else could get would be 3/14/1592. However, it really doesn’t matter because the date formats such as mm/dd/yyyy (or dd/mm/yyyy) weren’t in use until modern times. This pretty much rules out any possibility of anyone realizing the significance of 53 minutes past 6 o-clock, on the 14th day of March, 1592. 72.131.97.156 (talk) 18:54, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

User:Oknazevad removed this, saying it was per WP:NOTAFORUM. Since this is a talk page, not an article page I think we should give the not-logged-in user the benefit of the doubt instead. Are you proposing that any of this be in the article? If so, you need to find a reasonable source for it. Who are the "some" in "some claim"?Lacking that information (and a source that backs it up), it's just an interesting observation and not appropriate for the article. RoyLeban (talk) 04:35, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

I brought it up because this article used to mention this date from January 2005 through August 2010. It's not all that obvious that the date in 1592 could not have been observed. As 2015 draws near there may be some debate over which date is the best. If this were mentioned in the article it may correct any misconceptions people may have or get people thinking about what they are really celebrating. Some external references to the ultimate pi day in 1592 include:

• "The "ultimate" pi day occurred on March 14, 1592, at 6:54 AM." [8]
• "The “ultimate” pi day in history occurred on March 14, 1592, at 6:53:59 AM" [9]
• "I doubt the celebration will be quite as extravagant as the pi day of 1592" [10]
• "Of course, if this were 1592, none of us would be celebrating something as frivolous as Pi Day." [11]
• "Pi Day [is] March 14, 1592" [12]
• "The perfect pi day was in 1592." [13]
• "It’s been said the only real Pi Day was March 14, 1592." [14]
• "I wonder if anyone paid attention in 1592 when the date was 3/14/1592 – a full on, “in-your-face” pi day." [15]
• "Pi day was on March 14, 1592." [16]
• "Some have dated the first Pi day celebration to March 14, 1592 at 6:53:58. This is incorrect." [17]
• "The “ultimate” pi moment occurred on March 14, 1592, at 6:53 AM and 58 seconds." [18]
• "...note that 1592 was a better year for Pi Day" [19]

My 2c. It does seem like the 1592 meme is provably false, but your proof/thoughts would be rejected as original research. It's a weird thing about Wikipedia. I can take a photograph and say it's a certain flower and that doesn't count as original research (probably 90% of the images on Wikipedia are OR). But if I use my calculator to add 2+2 and get 4, people would say I need to cite a reference. At this point, I think the best you could do is prevent the meme from being added to the page, or prevent it from being added in any way that says its true. I would create a new section (assuming this one will get archived) which explains the meme and provide a very short explanation why it doesn't belong on Wikipedia. RoyLeban (talk) 07:24, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Pi Approximation Day

Shouldn't Pi Approximation Day have its own article? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ypnypn (talk • contribs) 16:57, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

I don't think it has any particular independent notability; its a variant version. In other words, the two articles would likely be merged anyway, and as March's Pi Day (3/14) was first, this is where the merged article would likely wind up. oknazevad (talk) 21:19, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

I think Pi approximation day lacks notability. In a couple of days I'll remove it from the page, or move to a small sub paragraph, unless there is proof of its notability being comparable to pi day one. I'm posting here to prevent anybody from saying there was a "discussion" on the subject. Noieraieri (talk) 08:29, 21 March 2012 (UTC)

"Observance" of the holiday instead of "Celebration"

I changed the section titled "Celebration" to "Observance". All relevant articles I could find about holidays use the term "observe". See Holiday, Public Holiday, and Public holidays in the United States.

Additionally, the mention of MIT acceptance letter mailings also make this change appropriate: accurately, this is not as much a celebration as it is an observance.

Teimu.tm (talk) 08:00, 26 July 2012 (UTC)

Worldwide?

The infobox claims Pi Day is celebrated worldwide. Is that true? Due to its connection with the American date format, I would have expected it to be celebrated only in America. -- Dr Greg  talk  21:19, 1 June 2013 (UTC)

US Biased

This article is VERY biased for the US. Even as a dual US/Canadian citizen I find it annoying. Nobody in the world celebrates PI day on March 14th, except people in the US. Because no one in the world except US residents/citizens write dates as MONTH/DAY/YEAR. The rest of the world just considers March 14th as US PI Day, and July 22nd as PI day. Since this is Wikipedia, not US-pedia, this article should be updated.Bill C. Riemers (talk) 15:06, 14 March 2014 (UTC)

I've reverted this rather pointy edit and replaced it with this. Independence days are celebrated by many countries. We don't litter "Independence Day (country)" throughout the respective articles. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 15:37, 14 March 2014 (UTC)

Good point. I have seen some wikipedia articles that explicitly reference country in this way. But it is far from a universal wikipedia standard. I hadn't even considered comparing to say Independence Day articles...Bill C. Riemers (talk) 15:46, 14 March 2014 (UTC)

Couldn't agree more. This is fucking ridiculous. The entire rest of Wikipedia does everything it can to remain culture-neutral, and then there's this? Get rid, I say. Get rid. I mean, if it made any effort at all to admit that it's a localised phenomenon, then fine. But, no. It's just more Americans taking yet another opportunity to pretend to themselves that they are the only people alive in the universe. Wankers. Tomalak Geret'kal (talk) 05:32, 14 March 2015 (UTC)

π is a truly international constant. The date format is actually irrelevant. And since the ISO international date format has it in the same order, there is no reason to confine the celebration to the US. It is for example celebrated here in Sweden. So, pleas change my editing back! Sekreterare (talk) 12:33, 14 March 2015 (UTC)

I have now given some evidence in the article for the celebration in Sweden. Sekreterare (talk) 12:56, 14 March 2015 (UTC)

Since my reference to ISO standard for date reference was removed, I store it here. Since it is an annual celebration, the year digits are irrelevant. It is true, that the US format reveals the three digits only, and that the international format doesn't. But even with another format, the date is the natural date to celebrate pi, since it is logical to count the month before the day.

The ISO standard is not only used in Sweden. It is the official standard of date presentation.

Text and references preserved here: The digits appear in this order in the ISO international standard for representing dates (YYYY-MM-DD): 2015-03-14, which is used for example in Sweden.

Sekreterare (talk) 15:04, 14 March 2015 (UTC)

Just in case, the US format is NOT YYYY-MM-DD, it is MM-DD-YYYY. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.30.37.116 (talk) 15:39, 14 March 2015 (UTC)

You're giving random information about ISO dates for.. what reason? They do not relate to this. The ISO date would be 2015-03-14 09:26:535... which would convert to 201503140926535... I don't see 31415926... in this? Do you? Besides, what you think is logical is not what is used on Wikipedia, we do not do original research. (Also, given the fact that it's not logical - 14/3/15 is logical, following as the 14th day of the 3rd month of the 2,015th year, smallest to biggest. Not middle to biggest to smallest?) It does not matter what you decide the natural date it - the definition of Pi Day is to follow the order of the numbers in the date, which this is only possible for America. Your bias towards America is not welcome on a cultural-neutral encyclopedia. AlexTheWhovian (talk) 13:17, 15 March 2015 (UTC)

"[W]hich this is only possible for America". False. See date formats by country. That's why you've been reverted multiple times by multiple editors. Also, don't impugn the good faith of other editors. Especially when the user has clearly identified as Swedish. oknazevad (talk) 14:18, 15 March 2015 (UTC)

My apologies - America and Belize. Two countries out of... how many? 196? Vast majority there. And he said it was celebrated in Sweden, not that he was Swedish. If you wish to gain a good reputation as an editor on Wikipedia, you need to learn how to read. I am Australian myself, and I could say that St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in Ireland. Does that identify me as Irish? Nope. AlexTheWhovian (talk) 21:47, 15 March 2015 (UTC)

@AlexTheWhovian: From what I can tell on date formats by country, MDY format is used by Belize, Canada, Federated States of Micronesia, Kenya, Philippines, and the United States. Regardless, you said "which this is only possible in America." in your previous comment so even if it were just the United States and Belize you would still be wrong. Also America is not a country, as I know I've seen mentioned on here somewhere.Pjstar35 (talk) 13:39, 18 March 2015 (UTC)

References

Pi time: duplication

   I don't believe i introduced the duplication between sections of the hours/minutes/seconds version (that depends on the once/century match of the year: i'm pretty sure, now, that i assumed a discussion i read; up to and thru was the only one, and fixed problems in that (and others in that section) w/o noticing the second. Note that i added the conditional template that will change the tense from future to past, and if someone merges the two versions in the accompanying article, they should keep the feature of the conditional template. (Unless this editing drags on past pi day!)
--Jerzy•t 13:00, 21 February 2015 (UTC)

When I was in college, one year we had a certain hard homework assignment due each Monday morning, that usually meant late night studying. We started a tradition (at least for one year) of cooking and eating pie at pi O'clock. That is, pi hours after midnight. Note that is about 3:08:30, and NOT 3:14:15. (Though the two are close enough that some might not notice.) Gah4 (talk) 09:42, 15 March 2016 (UTC)

Again US Biased

America is not a country... "... as America is the only country that ..." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.116.53.193 (talk) 15:22, 14 March 2015 (UTC)

Changed America to USA to make it more clear. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.30.37.116 (talk) 15:35, 14 March 2015 (UTC)

Been removed, as it was false. The U.S. is not the only country that uses mm/dd format. oknazevad (talk) 20:03, 14 March 2015 (UTC)

Do note that very few countries (e.g. U.S.) use the mm/dd/yyyy format (see Wikipedia). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.30.37.116 (talk) 18:05, 15 March 2015 (UTC)

For future discussions about format: Note that Wikipedia uses the format dd/mm/yyy (e.g. in "view history"). However, if the date is simply reporting the title of some newspaper or similar, keep the date format as the original. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.30.37.116 (talk) 18:12, 15 March 2015 (UTC)

No. See WP:MOSDATE. That's how Wikipedia does dates. oknazevad (talk) 18:26, 15 March 2015 (UTC)

Yes. See WP:MOSDATE. Also do read the format in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi and also see next to your signature. Let us be consistent. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.30.37.116 (talk) 01:37, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

You say "[...] see next to your signature." It reads "18:26, 15 March 2015 (UTC)" What was that supposed to prove? —DIV (120.17.40.5 (talk) 09:16, 14 March 2018 (UTC))

The issue, IP, is what you're saying, and what WP:MOSDATE says, are completely different. Saying "Note that Wikipedia uses the format dd/mm/yyy" is inaccurate, as a reading of WP:MOSDATE makes clear. - Aoidh (talk) 00:25, 15 March 2016 (UTC)

Many named days start from a celebration in the US, and spread to other parts of the world. Mother's_Day seems to be celebrated on different days in different countries. It seems to me that countries can celebrate Pi Day on March 14th, or another day if they happen to like another day. I suspect it won't become an official holiday, with offices closed and such, in many countries, though. Personally, I find the connection between the decimal representation of the mathematical constant and the month/day to be radixism, (that is, discrimination based on a specific radix) but find that March 14th is as good as any day. I suspect that it isn't popular enough to support different days in different countries, and that greeting card companies won't produce cards to send. Gah4 (talk) 20:26, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

Sure, many days do. But also many days don't! Take for example the article for Kwanzaa: some countries may have picked it up, but most (numerically) haven't, and the article for Kwanzaa reflects that. "Pi Day" is predomonantly recognised in the USA, and so I have added that. It is obvious from not just the date format, but also all of the examples given in the article are USA-based. In fact I'd argue it's common knowledge. The restriction should be retained as the default until/unless somebody can provide some convincing proof from reputable sources. (And finding one primary school in Fiji that mentions it in their newsletter to parents, for example, would not constitute proof contradicting the statement that the Day is observed primarily in the U.S.A..)

—DIV (120.17.40.5 (talk) 09:26, 14 March 2018 (UTC))

Some goofball changed "primarily" to "pi-marily". This pun should have been reverted, but — in a misguided attempt to help — user Oknazevad deleted the clause entirely. I have therefore reinstated the restriction, but this time as:

"The day is predominantly recognised in the USA."

to try to avoid repetition of the pun. User Khajidha asserted that Wikipedia's "MOS is against using U.S.A.". Could be. But "United States" could be anywhere: United States of Mexico (Estados Unidos Mexicanos), perhaps? Any other nation of united states? Anyway, at least Khajidha took sensible action in 'amending' my change (not deleting it wholesale), and including some sort of rationale.

—DIV (120.17.40.5 (talk) 10:58, 14 March 2018 (UTC))

See above discussions on this. It's not just a US observance anymore. oknazevad (talk) 11:03, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

The usual translation of Mexico's formal name is United Mexican States and there is no other country with "United States" in its name. There's a reason the wikipedia page for the U.S.A. is titled United States. --Khajidha (talk) 11:16, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

MOS:USA --Khajidha (talk) 11:24, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

Two Pi Day and Tau Day

I had their definitions in the lead/lede and was going to change the redirect of Tau Day from Pi#In_popular_culture to this page. This page focuses on the "Day" and some organizations, like the Exploratorium, have celebrated "Two Pi". I think the sentences should be moved back and the terms bolded again. They are not used much, but this seems like the best place for it. StrayBolt (talk) 04:07, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

"If there were 31 days in April"

Someone is reverting the removal of " If the particular date existed, the holiday would be celebrated elsewhere on April 31, as America is the only country that uses the month-first date system", without even an edit summary let alone an explanation. This is obviously a ridiculous statement to include in the article, let alone the lede - speculation about what day Pi Day would fall on if the world used a different calendar is ludicrously marginal, and if we are going to include this kind of speculation why is "if April was longer" the only alternative calendar mentioned? Mogism (talk) 11:20, 14 March 2015 (UTC)

Agreed, I vote for removing that part.

Removed again. It's irrelevant to the real world. It is original research. No matter what, it's asinine and doesn't belong. oknazevad (talk) 17:22, 14 March 2015 (UTC)

Good point, Mogism: are there any calendars with 14 months? Perhaps then we could speculate about the third day of the fourteenth month (3. XIV ➔ 3.14)?

Come to think of it, newsagents often sell wall calendars that cover fourteen months! :-)p

But if we're allowed to be approximate, then we can make do with the third of January (3. I ➔ 3.1).

—DIV (120.17.40.5 (talk) 11:32, 14 March 2018 (UTC))

And if there were 78 days in February, we could have e day on February 78th. There aren't, and we don't. Many events are assigned a day of the year, unrelated to any numerical combination that one might think of. Gah4 (talk) 06:49, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

Regionalism

This article needs to include content about Pi Day outside the USA, or to be rewritten to make clear that it is a US-only event. I see that I'm far from the first to raise this issue, so I'm surprised to note the removal of the tag to that effect, which I've restored. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 12:09, 15 March 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for explaining why you tagged. I've re-added the American qualifier. If this event is truly worldwide, sources need to be provided to indicate that. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 14:22, 15 March 2014 (UTC)

   Hear Neil speak! It exists and is documented in some US contexts, and we are unlikely to be able to prove the negative that Pigs wants asserted: especially not, as math educators are probably capable of teaching the lesson plan titled "Look, you can list year, month, and day in a different order, without going insane!" -- especially since it

(a) gives students practice in distinguishing arbitrary conventions from laws of nature,
(b) saves educators the dog-work of "translating" materials from one set of conventions to another (and gives students an occasion to acquire that skill), and
(c) can help teach the fact that the lack of evidence for A, and presence of evidence for B, does not support the false syllogism "we know the existence of B produced evidence, and evidence for A is lacking, so A doesn't exist".

   Sure, it'd be a good thing if someone can verify that it's done elsewhere, or that it's not, but if Pigs wants to see that happen, there's only one editor they can assign to do the needed research!
--Jerzy•t 20:20, 21 February 2015 (UTC)

You assert that I am asking you to prove a negative. I am not. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 20:28, 21 February 2015 (UTC)

You could always mention International Pi Day as the 3rd of January, 4159. Of course, I'm making that up. But people in the 42nd century will surely find it a reason to celebrate. 154.20.88.158 (talk) 07:54, 14 March 2015 (UTC)

http://familymathcanada.org/pi-day/, http://o.canada.com/technology/brain-controlled-pie-game-trigger-epic-pie-catapult-in-geekiest-pi-day-celebration-ever, https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/mar/13/pi-day-celebration-maths-fans-language-memory-contests, https://lnu.se/subjects/mathematics/1.17977/pi-day-celebrated-at-teknikum?l=en The problem isn't sources, it's that this is not a real thing, it's more a minor cultural phenomeno. If it was restricted to those who go month/date/year that fact is now irrelevant. Richardson mcphillips (talk) 13:42, 14 March 2016 (UTC)

Although I do admit to being slightly irritated by the suggestion that the world celebrates some event based on the US m/d date format, I feel I also have to point out that the truly-international ISO 8601 date format (usually quoted as yyyy-mm-dd) would also yield this same day (March 14th).TonyP (talk) 14:36, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

Stephen Hawking's death

Per WP:NOTFORUM, this article has nothing to do with Stephen Hawking.

He died on this day in 2018 A.D.. ;-] 210.186.24.203 (talk) 13:52, 14 March 2018 (UTC) With all due respect to Mr. Hawking, so what?--Khajidha (talk) 14:01, 14 March 2018 (UTC) Celebrating Albert Einstein's birthday has been part of the Exploratorium's celebration from the start (or close to it) and some say the connection has added to its popularity. Perhaps people will remember Hawking too.— Preceding unsigned comment added by StrayBolt (talk • contribs) 14:16, 14 March 2018 (UTC) Is the Einstein thing part of Pi Day celebrations or is it a different celebration that happens to be on the same day? Neither of these physicists has much to do with pi and I am failing to see any reason to mention them here. Especially Hawking, considering that his connection to the date has only just occurred.--Khajidha (talk) 14:22, 14 March 2018 (UTC) Wikipedia doesn't define links; if culture adopts him into the celebrations and reliable sources mention it, then he could be mentioned here in the future. Until then, he's mentioned in the March 14 article. Reliable sources are important. Today is also Steak and Blowjob Day; by the same arguments above that he should be mentioned due to passing away on the same day, we should mention him in that article too if we equally disregard reliable sources. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 14:29, 14 March 2018 (UTC) Hawking's death on Pi Day could be defined as a "notable" news event, WP:NOTABLENEWS, as readily seen by the plethora of worldwide reports today. I maintain it's notable concurrent with Einstein events, and offered this edit reverted by JohnBlackburne as trivia. But the concurrence of Hawking's death with Pi Day and Einstein's birthday is predictably long-lasting. Quoting from NOTABLENEWS: "...not non-notable per notnews solely because it is about a current event, nor does news coverage about an article’s subject make it non-notable. To the contrary, news coverage can only serve to increase the notability of an article." The section containing Einstein and Hawking could be titled, "Concurrent events". --Zefr (talk) 19:08, 14 March 2018 (UTC) It’s just a coincidence. Many notable people have been born or died on March 14th, including other mathematicians and scientists. But we don’t list them in this article, they are listed in March 14, the appropriate article for such anniversaries.--JohnBlackburnewordsdeeds 19:28, 14 March 2018 (UTC) A notable unique coincidence with inevitable long-lasting reference, as is Einstein's birthday and the 3rd paragraph under Observance. --Zefr (talk) 21:06, 14 March 2018 (UTC) We mention that this one place celebrates both at the samd time. We do not say that they are intronsically linked. And we don't talk about Einstein outside of that.--Khajidha (talk) 21:16, 14 March 2018 (UTC) The Exploratorium has been celebrating both for a long time, here is their 1999 event. I recall Larry saying they have been together since (almost?) the beginning for them (but I misplaced the RS). I have another (misplaced) RS that mentioned that the connection probably helped Pi Day's popularity, a synergy. I'll post them when I come across them again. StrayBolt (talk) 03:48, 15 March 2018 (UTC) "Celebrate Pi Day and Einstein's Birthday" shows that these are two things that happen to coincide, not teo parts of the same thing. Your own evidence argues against you. --Khajidha (talk) 10:43, 15 March 2018 (UTC) Impossible to argue they are not coincidental. I was arguing for the synergy. "But great ideas have a way of catching on and, before long, Pi Day was a fixture and a public celebration at the museum, and then by math lovers everywhere. It didn’t hurt the cause, he (Larry Shaw) often said, that March 14 also turned out to be the birthday of Albert Einstein."[20] StrayBolt (talk) 05:30, 17 March 2018 (UTC) And the synergy with Einstein is covered as far as it is relevant. Any synergy with Hawking is just speculation at this point. --Khajidha (talk) 22:16, 17 March 2018 (UTC)