22/7 > 3.14 What if Pi Day, perhaps the best known mathematical holiday, was actually better celebrated in the summer? Currently falling on March 14 — 3/14, in honor of the first three digits of the infamous irrational number — Pi Day celebrates what is often the first irrational number grade school students meet. However, one mathematician says it ought to fall on July 22.
22/7 (as in the 22nd of July, the way most of Europe represents dates) is pi in fraction form. On a number line, if you pin up 3.14, pi, and 22/7, pi is just ever so slightly closer to 22/7 than to 3.
14, making the fraction the superior approximation. So, if you want to be a pedantic stickler about your math holidays, then start celebrating Pi Day in July. Ben Orlin, in his new book Math for English Majors (out September 3), explores pi and other mathematical concepts for those who haven’t found themselves to be mathematically minded.
We live in a world that increasingly foists mathematics upon us either in the form of financial literacy or artificial intelligence. Understanding or even simply enjoying math can help ease this inevitable, beautiful part of life. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Ben Orlin: Pi is a beautiful number that, in its simplest form, is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. The distance around the outside will be much further than the distance across it. It's a little more than three times as far, and the exact number is pi.
The momen.