π for Everyone
March 14, 2023
What is your favorite recipe for pie? How about pi (π )?
π r² is a recipe where π is the basic ingredient, but it is not the only one. It is, however the one that makes a perfect are of the circle, the kind that holds a delicious cherry, chocolate, or coconut pie.
But what is the recipe for π itself? It is often described by:
There is a point here.
Everything is formed from something else. Mathematicians could cite prime numbers as an exception, but physicists would dispute that in their realm.
So far, all that we have attempted to view as irreducible in history has proven to be reducible. Now we speak of particles and waves and quarks and things I do not understand at all.
Theology enters the conversation and declares that God is the Irreducible One while, at the same time, being that which greater than can not be conceived (Anselm).
π Day is one of my favorite holidays because it π has no known end to its sequence and the very notion introduces the concept that is beyond conceptual: a vast unknown.
Where there is the unknown, there is wonder and where there is wonder there is imagination and a glimpse of divinity which is beyond the mystery.
It is also a day for cute jokes and plays on words.
Enjoy your pie today!'
While you are having some fun, consider, also, the circular nature of your existence and the circles of people in your life who bring wonder and joy to your routine journeys around the sun.
And, as promised, a recipe for my favorite:
