The Real Reason Apple is So Popular Right Now

First off, happy
pi day.

According to
a physicist
at
the Exploratorium in San Francisco,
the number Pi
has been calculated out
to over one trillion digits. But that’s not the interesting part.

As it turns out, it’s totally overkill to get that precise with it. Dividing
22 by 7 gives an estimate that works for most everyday needs, such as
carpentry and construction (it’s roughly 99% accurate). And calculating pi
out to only 39 places gives truly astronomical precision.

Using pi calculated out to only 39 decimal places would allow one to
compute the circumference of the entire universe to the accuracy of less
than the diameter of a hydrogen atom.

Holy crap. So, yeah…I guess 39 places will be “good enough” then…

Oh, and just for a bit of trivia, Albert Einstein’s birthday is today, and
he was a big fan of pi. But that’s not it. His birthday, like pi day, also
falls on March 14th — otherwise known as 3.14. Einstein’s birthday on
3.14. Coincidence? I don’t think so. We all know God doesn’t play dice.:

—

[ Thanks to
NPR’s Science Friday
for the excellent show today! ]