Nashua South students have sweet time on Pi Day

Whether a circle is as big as the equator or as small as a dime, the ratio of its circumference to its diameter always equals that one magical, irrational number. On March 14 –  3-14 – Nashua High School South students gathered in the cafeteria for activities, fun and a celebration in honor of a mathematical wonder of the natural world: pi. Pi Day was put together by South’s Math Honor Society. “Pi Day is our biggest project, and we’ve been planning for it the past few months,” Math Honor Society President Bhavana Kaki said. “It gets the entire school interested in pi and math in a variety of fun and engaging ways. “It took a lot of effort to plan, but we were able to pull everything together to make it a successful event.” Students funneled into the cafeteria to explore the various student-run booths in four half-hour shifts. At the “Pi(e) a Teacher” booth, a crowd member had the opportunity to throw a pie at one of his or her favorite teachers. During the “Pi Scavenger Hunt,” students searched the cafeteria for clues that eventually led to an apple pie, all while learning about the history of pi in the process. At the “Pi Recital” booth, students had the opportunity to recite as many digits as they could memorize in order to earn a prize: Five digits earned a sticker, 30 digits earned a cookie and 50 digits earned a cupcake. South math team captain Khristine Yu lived up to her reputation and managed to accurately, as well as festively, recite  314 digits of pi in one sitting. “After my recital,” Yu said, “a student came up to me and said, ‘Wow! You almost got to the part where it repeated!’ I got to see the fascinated look on his face as I explained to him that pi was irrational; it never repeats itself, yet it goes on forever.” Students may wonder about the point of certain booths, such as “Pi(e) a Teacher,” during Pi Day. It certainly doesn’t teach anything about the concept of the number pi. “The cool thing is that the event gets people passionate about something they ordinarily think is dull and boring,” senior Math Honor Society member Alex Dunn said.