Pi Day is celebrated by mathematicians around the globe - but what is it exactly and how has
Google broken a world record for the 2019 celebration?
Pi Day, also known as Pie Approximation Day, is held every year on March 14 in honour of the mathematical constant Pi. If you have been out of school for some time, the memory of Pi may fill you with some distant horror so here is a recap. Pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter and it is represented by the three numbers of 3.14. The figure is integral to our understanding of calculations in physics, maths and engineering.
For example, it is used for designing buildings to withstand earthquakes, while NASA used Pi to determine the size of different solar planets.
People mark the day every year by enthusing about the number and eating pie, of course.
March 14 was chosen as the international day of celebration because 3.14 translates to 3/14/YEAR in the American calendar.
How has Google used Pi Day to break a Guinness World Record?Maths and science whizzes are increasingly using Pi Day to calculate the most accurate value of Pi.
A true number can never be determined as it is an “irrational number”, meaning it goes on for ever.
But for Pi Day 2019, Google employee Emma Haurka Iwao has broken a new Guinness World Record by calculating a record length for the number.
The Japanese Google Cloud developer worked out Pi to 1.4 trillion digits, smashing the previous record of 22 trillion.
Emma used an application called y-cruncher on 25 Google Cloud virtual machines - essentially supercomputers - to achieve her feat.
Her achievement took 121 days and was aided by luck.
Had any of the servers powering the cloud computers failed, so would her record.
The modest record-breaker said her success was an “exciting accomplishment” for her team.
The programmer hopes to inspire others to follow her path in the future.
Emma said: “When I was a kid, I didn’t have access to supercomputers.
“But even if you don’t work for Google, you can apply for various scholarships and programs to access computing resources.
“I was very fortunate that there were Japanese world record holders that I could relate to.
“I’m really happy to be one of the few women in computer science holding the record, and I hope I can show more people who want to work in the industry what’s possible.”