Forget what your middle school pre-algebra teacher told you ? Pi Day is mostly about cheeky association, making math fun and eating pie.
Many of those who attended the Maryland Science Center?s Pi Day came prepared.
Kasey Gast, 10, of Odenton, won a whole pie for reciting the first 18 digits of the endless numeral, which is the ratio of a circle?s diameter to its circumference.
He took his place adding a digit to the center?s pi chain and got a cherry Tastykake pie in addition to his prize.
“It?s definitely interesting. I can?t wait to see this whole railing filled with numbers,” Kasey said. “Compared to my miniature recital, some people can recite it to 10,000 and even 100,000 digits.”
Others were more interested in the edible variety.
“Did you know I ate pumpkin pie before?”Christina Downey, 5, told a photographer, licking her lips. “I love it!”
She was at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore City with her preschool, Faith Child Development Center of Eldersburg.
While the Maryland Science Center uses the tactics of other public awareness events from Eating Disorder Awareness Week to Black History Month, assistant IMAX director Wendy Ackerman admits its objective is a little lighter.
“We?re the science center, and it?s important to get people thinking, whether it is about math or science,” she said.
Once inside, visitors saw many examples of circles in motion in the kinetic playground that makes up the first floor, as well as the Science on a Sphere exhibit that projects images of the Earth on a spherical screen.
“There?s a whole team of people who figure out how to get the images to work on a sphere. There?s a lot of math involved in that,” Ackerman said.
Kasey did his homework, too. He came to the center with his mom, Kam, and fellow home-schoolers Alex Collins, 11, and Sarrie Collins, 10, after spending some time studying pi.
Kasey took his studies more seriously than most.
“Just last night I broke it down again and multiplied [one-quarter of the diameter] times 4 pi,” he said.
He also proudly pulled up his cuffs to show off his pi-logo socks.
