Pi Day Quiz

In 1706, who first used the greek letter $\pi$ to represent the value we celebrate today?

• William Jones

• Archimedes

• Albert Einstein

• Galileo Galilei

Which of these is the earliest known reference to the concept of pi in recorded history?

• An Egyptian papyrus scroll, ~1650 BC

• The Rosetta Stone, ~200 BC

• The Bible

• Euclid's "Elements", ~ 3rd century BC

People tried for years to "square the circle". What were they trying to do?

• Construct a square which perfectly circumscribes a circle.

• Determine the value of pi squared.

• Construct a square exactly equal in area to a given circle.

• Alter a recipe for a round pan to fit exactly into a square.

Some math folks prefer to celebrate Tau Day over Pi Day. On what day would a Tau Day celebration be held?

• June 28

• March 14

• July 22

• December 29

What is the current world record for memorizing digits of Pi?

• 70,000 digits

• 314 digits

• 31,811 digits

• 22,500 digits

Pi is an irrational number. Just what does that mean?

• Its digits are unpredictable.

• Nobody with sound judgement has anything to do with it.

• It cannot be expressed as the ratio of two integers.

• It is a number between 3 and 4.

Some folks will also celebrate a "summertime Pi Day" on which date?

• August 19

• July 22

• June 30

• August 3

In the first 30 digits of Pi's decimal expansion, which digit does not appear?

• 0

• 2

• 7

• 8

What is the "formal" definition of Pi?

• the surface area of a sphere of diameter 22/7

• A tasty, tasty dessert

• 3.1415926

• The ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter

How long did it take for a supercomputer to calculate pi to 51 billion digits back in 1997?

• 78 hours

• 47 seconds

• 29 hours

• 6 minutes