BENIEL SEKA
“I wish I
could calculate pi”. Those are words which seemed to occupy the mind of the
Tanzania Deputy Minister for Education (TAMISEMI), Honourable Kassim Majaliwa
(MP) on Pi-Day, 2012. The Deputy Minister had been invited by the Mathematical
Association of Tanzania (MAT/CHAHITA) to be the guest of honour at the 9th Pi-day
celebration in Tanzania held at Jangwani Girls’ Secondary School in Dar es
Salaam on 14th March, 2012.
The
celebration had begun with a charity walk from Tambaza High School to Jangwani
Secondary school and received by the Deputy Minister. He was later led through
some mathematics exhibitions displayed by teachers and mathematics books
display from book publishers. After admiring the displays, the Deputy Minister
was led to a high table where he was introduced to the participants.
The master
of ceremonies (MC) called the pioneer of Pi –day in Tanzania to explain the
concept of pi and hence inform the participants about pi-day. He started by saying
that pi is defined as the circumference of a circle divided by its diameter. “The
quotient obtained is approximately equal to 3.14 for any circle. In order to
create pi-day, the number 3 has been chosen to represent the 3rd
calendar month (March) and 14 to represent the day. Thus pi-day is on 14th
March,” he said further.
Some
participants smiled in appreciation for those who initiated the idea. The
pioneer then informed he participants by saying, “Pi, has been obtained to
millions of decimal places. For example, the value of pi to decimal 20 places
is 3.14159265358979323846. How many of these figures can you remember?” He
looked at the audience. There was evidence from their faces that they could not
remember even eight of them. Pi is 3.1415926 to seven decimal places (eight
figures). With the same notion of pi-day, 1 after the number 14 is taken as 1 o’clock,
59 as minutes and 26 as seconds to represent the pi hour (1:59:26).”
Several
participants including the Deputy Minister applauded in appreciation of the new
knowledge. One of them whispered and said, “How I wish I could calculate pi!”
The pioneer heard him. He wrote the sentence on a flip chart that many of the
participants could see. He then showed it to them.
“Look,” he
said, “You can use this sentence to recall pi to six decimal places. “You just
count the number of letters in each word in that order and they will stand for
the figures for pi. HOW I WISH I COULD CALCULATE PI. The word ‘how’ has 3
letters, so the first figure is 3. The second letter is I which has 1 letter,
so the second figure is 1. The third word ‘wish’ has 4 letters, so 4 is the third
figure. The fourth word has one letter; therefore the fourth figure is 1 and so
on. Hence, the value of pi to six decimal places (seven figures) is 3.141592.”
The audience
stared at him unbelievingly. “So it is possible to remember the value of pi by
recalling this sentence,” said one teacher sitting close to the Deputy
Minister. The Deputy Minister nodded in agreement.
The MC
proceeded with the programme where he invited the Deputy Minister to present
prizes to the 2011 mathematics contest winners. The MAT/CHAHITA gave a short
speech and eventually invited the Deputy Minister to address the gathering.
The Deputy
Minister praised the Mathematical Association for organizing the Pi-day
celebration. He expressed his appreciation for the knowledge he gained about
pi. He saw the occasion as a good move towards promoting the learning of
mathematics which was facing a decline. He promised to support MAT/CHAHITA in
its effort to alleviate the problem of poor performance in mathematics in the
country. He advised the association to inform his ministry about its plans in
good time to enable implementation.
The
programme included singing pi-day songs, pi-day songs and drum beats. At the
end, participants sang the popular song ‘Happy Pi-Day’ to mark the day. They
all sang joyfully .This was an indication that they enjoyed the day.
One female teacher
showed interest in looking for more ways of calculating pi. She rushed to the
pioneer and inquired, “Is there any other way I can use to remember the value
of Pi?”
“Yes,” he
replied. He had been to school with this lady. He knew how Quantum Mechanics
used to give them a hard time in their Physics undergraduate course. He also
remembered that after lectures they used take alcoholic drinks. “Try the
following,” he told her. “HOW I NEED A DRINK, ALCOHOLIC OF COURSE, AFTER THE
HEAVY LECTURES REGARDING QUANTUM MECHANICS.”
She wrote
the sentence and counted the letters of each word. She then wrote the value for
pi as 3.14159265358979. She compared this value with the one she had copied
from a book. “It is correct,” she shouted with excitement.
The pioneer
just watched her and asked, “How many decimal places does it give you?”
She counted
them and said, “Fourteen.”
“You can now
write pi to fourteen decimal places just like that. No sweat. The challenge is
to compose more such sentences. People will admire you.”
“That is why
some people are able to reproduce the value of pi so easily. I will cherish
this. Thank you.”
END
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