http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/AheadoftheCurve/wireStory?id=6993354
A rare holiday only occurring nine times each century was a huge hit to math teacher Tuesday with the addition of a little competition. The day is none other than 3/3/09, obviously because the square root of nine is three times three. “We have but nine of these days in a century, and hope all can enjoy a little math fun on Tuesday (Today),” said Ron Gordon, a Redwood City Oklahoma math teacher.
Gordon, who started a contest meant to get people excited about the event. The winner gets, of course, $339 for having the biggest Square Root Day event. Celebrants are expected to mark the occasion by cutting root vegetables into squares or preparing other foods in the shape of the square root symbol.
"These days are like calendar comets, you wait and wait and wait for them, then they brighten up your day and poof they're gone," said Gordon. The last one occurred on February 2, 2004, and the next will occur in seven years on April 4, 2016.
Square Root Day isn't the only humorous holiday celebrated in the math world.
Pi Day is observed each March 14 (3/14), while Pi Approximation Day falls on July 22 (roughly equal to 22/7). The first Pi Day was observed in 1988 by staff at the San Francisco Exploratorium, who walked around in circles.
So as you can see these holidays may be small but do have meaning, and all include fun times. So dust off the cobwebs from the math-section of your brain, recharge your calculators, and enjoy Square root day.
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Never heard of Square Root day. I guess it would be a lot of fun for those who love math. Not only is there Square Root Day, but there is a Pi Day to. Who came of with these days and what did they have to do to make it official?
ReplyDeleteFor all you math lovers have a great day.
Even though I am mathematically challenged, I just love this idea. And how charming that ABC News reported on a "feel good" event as a break from the economy doom and gloom pieces. I would enjoy seeing what creative math whizzes come up with to celebrate this most unusual day. It's kind of like Haley's Comet--comes around only so often, so if you miss it, too bad! And I should add that I am especially honored that Pi Approximation Day falls on my birthday--it is wasted on me, to be sure, but nevertheless, I'll pretend to know something about math this July! Great post.
ReplyDeleteWow... this is really a holiday for math teachers because I have only known about the pi day in March.
ReplyDeleteIt’s good to see teachers know how to have fun with such a sticky subject for most students.
Hopefully, they put that much enthusiasm into their daily lectures and teachings.
Interesting post. It's cool that people celebrate the things that they love, in this case it would be math. I like math myself but I don't really keep up with the math holidays as some may. Anytime you have a chance to win money, you should go all out as long as it's not anything stupid.
ReplyDeleteI remember being in high school; all the math students would get so excited about pi day and I remember hearing about square root day. It was in my freshman year.
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that we have these kinds of holidays, even if they're not as well-known as Halloween or President's Day.
I can't believe I didn't even think about pi day, and now I'm going to have to wait seven more years for the next one. What a shame.
Great post!