Pi Approximation Day 2023 – July 22

 The Pi Approximation Day is annually observed on 22nd July across the globe to honour the importance of the concept of Pi in calculations, which is represented using the Greek letter ‘π’.
Why 22nd July?
i.When the date 22nd July is written in the day/month format (22/7), it looks like the fraction 22/7.
ii.The value of 22/7 approximation to 2 decimal place is 3.14.
Note: Pi Approximation Day was first celebrated in the Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Significance of Pi:
i.The ratio of the circumference (C) of a circle to its diameter (D) is a constant number denoted by π and is independent of the size of the circle.
ii.π is an irrational number and cannot be expressed as a common fraction.
iii.Archimedes, a mathematician in ancient Greece was one of the first persons to suggest a rational approximation of 22/7 for π, it is sometimes referred to as Archimedes’ constant
iv.The Greek letter π was first used by mathematicians in the 1700s and was introduced by William Jones, a mathematician from Wales, the United Kingdom (UK) in 1706.
v.The use of the symbol π was popularized by Leonhard Euler, a mathematician from Switzerland, who adopted it in 1737.
Note: Pi was derived from the first letter of the Greek word ‘perimetros,’ meaning circumference.
Related Observance:
Pi Approximation Day, besides being celebrated on July 22, is also celebrated on November 10, as it is the 314th day of the year (November 9 in leap years).
Pi Day:
i.Pi Day is annually observed across the globe on 14th March to celebrate the never ending number, which denotes the Pi value when written in the month.date (American calendar system) format (3.14).
ii.Larry Shaw, a staff physicist at the Exploratorium linked March 14 (3.14) with the digits of pi (3.14159…), and organised the first-ever known Pi Day was on 14th March 1988 at an Exploratorium in San Francisco, the United States of America (USA).
Note:
14th March also marks the birth Anniversary of Albert Einstein, a physicist from Germany.
14th March also marks the death anniversary (March 14, 2018) of Stephen Hawking, a theoretical physicist, cosmologist from England, the UK.