WELCOME TO AN ENTERTAINMENT SITE FOR SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCERS!
Enjoy this curated selection of theme-related dances for celebrations and holidays, or find a dance associated with a special calendar day, or EVEN your own birthday!
Jul 22
Pi Approximation Day
The Mathematicians
Other Scottish Country Dances for this Day
Today's Musings, History & Folklore
"So here we have pi squared, which an engineer would call 10."
~ Frank King
Ouch! Those engineers and mathematicians, always friendly feuding over those signficant figures!
Need an excuse for some pie today? Well, you have a fine one!
Set aside those rational and irrational disputes, and put a little spring in your steps, with this lively 32 bar strathspey for four couples devised John Roby, written after hearing the traditional fiddle tune, "The Mathematicians!". The dance includes highland Schottische setting steps and a Schottische poussette! And don't worry, the only significant figures you have to keep track of are your own and your partner!
The tune, composed by James Scott Skinner (1843-1927), a technically demanding hornpipe was likely dedicated to Dr. Clark of Cairo, and is famous for its virtuosity - Donegal fiddler John Doherty joked that Skinner wrote it "to fool the country fiddlers." π€ͺ
Mathematical and musical jabs aside, pi approximation day, July 22 or 22/7 is for those who write the date in the day/month format and is another one of the fun days recognized by mathematics students and teachers in addition to the better known March 14, 3/14 (for those partial to the month/day format), both relating to approximations of the most well known of irrational constants, pi, the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.
The rational fraction 22/7 has been used as a practical approximation of Ο for more than 2,000 years and is commonly associated with the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes, who proved that Ο is slightly less than 22/7. Although modern calculators use the true value of Ο, the fraction remains a handy estimate for quick calculations and is celebrated each July 22 (22/7) as Pi Approximation Day.
So whether you're celebrating elegant dance figures, significant and or rational or irrational numbers (or partners), mark the day with good company, good music, a good dance, and perhaps a well-earned slice of pie!πΊ π π€ π€ π€ π₯§ π₯§ π₯§ π π π π π₯§
The Mathematicians
Today is Pi Approximation Day or Casual Pi Day!
One of the most widely recognized mathematical constants, Ο, is an irrational number, the digits of which repeat in a random fashion and are never ending.
Pi denotes the relationship between a circleβs circumference and its diameter and is denoted by the fraction 22/7 which calculates approximately to 3.14. This fraction is often used for rough calculations particularly by students in the early years.
Pi has been calculated with great precision by many different methods: using polygons (Ancient Greeks), using infinite series, etc ... .
However, one of the more infamous stories surrounding the value of pi has to do with the notorious Indiana Pi Bill which attempted to legislate the value of pi (incorrectly).
The bill was titled "A Bill for an act introducing a new mathematical truth and offered as a contribution to education to be used only by the State of Indiana free of cost by paying any royalties whatever on the same, provided it is accepted and adopted by the official action of the Legislature of 1897".
Despite its name, the main result claimed by the bill is a method to square the circle, rather than to establish a certain value for the mathematical constant Ο, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. The bill, written by amateur mathematician Edward J. Goodwin, does imply various incorrect values of Ο, such as 3.2.
The bill never became law, due to the intervention of Professor C. A. Waldo of Purdue University, who happened to be present in the legislature on the day it went up for a vote.
The impossibility of squaring the circle using only compass and straightedge constructions, suspected since ancient times, was rigorously proven in 1882 by Ferdinand von Lindemann. Better approximations of Ο than those implied by the bill have been known since ancient times.
To learn more about pi, click the cartoon!
Click the dance cribs or description below to link to a printable version of the dance!
