PI (π) is the non-repeating irrational number which starts off 3.14159265358….  It is the ratio between the diameter and the circumference of a circle. 

Since 3.14 is an approximation of PI, March 14 (3/14) is PI day.  English speakers know the event is tastier when known as PIE day.  Other language groups can enjoy all the geekiness but miss the punny treaty-ness.

Diane clued me in about the existence of PI day by having a lovely Dutch Apple Crumb Pie delivered on March 14 several years ago.  She included a doctored greeting card proclaiming “PI Day wishes from Gandalf” – it was during Lord of the Rings trilogy days.

Jesse worked at a company in Wisconsin whose cafeteria invited all employees to come down and enjoy a tasty, free slice of pie on 3/14, at 1:59 in the afternoon.  There was a near riot at the place in 2009 when PI day fell on a Saturday – no free pie for you on the weekend!  The natives had accepted the inevitable by Sunday March 14, 2010 and have been satisfied ever since.  Next year will be tough again.

What an amazing creator we have who put this simple circular relationship in place.  But the simple definition has been used to challenge computer scientists, mathematicians, and supercomputers – the decimal representation has been done to over 10 trillion digits.  An infinite number of digits, an ever expanding universe sounds like Isaiah 55.9:  “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than yoru ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”