Happy Pi Day – Celebrate 3.14 on 3/14

Are you a math enthusiast? Come from a proud nerd lineage? Do you just need an excuse to eat pie today? Well you’re in luck, because it’s officially PI Day 2011!

PI day is March 14 (3/14) and the day to celebrate the mathematical constant Pi=3.14. While this may not be the most widely known geek celebration, today is nonetheless a day to celebrate your nerdiness or that of those around you. Popularized by Leonhard Euler in 1737, Pi=3.1415926535… has one million digits! Many attempt to memorize as many digits as they can to help commemorate this special day!

Hearkening back to your high school math days, Pi is used to find the area of a circle and the volume of a cylinder. Pi Day was founded by physicist Larry Shaw at the San Francisco Exploratorium. He recommends throwing a Pi Day party and serving pie of course! You can also do hands-on science experiments at home.

Sugar and Scribe Bakery in Pacific Beach is the perfect place to stop by for a slice (or whole) pie to share.  They have a wide variety from apple, Grandma Kate’s blueberry, pumpkin, red raspberry, pecan, minced meat… the list goes on.

Other popular pie places in San Diego that you can try include Marie Callenders in La Mesa, George’s Wonderful World of Cakes in National City, or pick up a Julian Apple Pie from Albertsons or your local grocery store.

If you’re looking for more ways you can celebrate, check out piday.org for ecards and Pi gear like t-shirts, mugs and even an iphone case to show off your math gusto.

Here is a wonderful recipe from Food Network’s Giada de Laurentiis  to use for Pi day 2011.

What is your favorite kind of pie? Will you be making a pie today or going out to enjoy one?

Photos by Mykl Roventine via Flickr and Kate Monkey via Flickr.