Celebrating Pi Day

7:20 PM, Mar 14, 2013   |    comments
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MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The middle schoolers at Plymouth Middle School in Robbinsdale know Pi better than most of us. They know it out to almost 100 digits

It's a never-ending mathematical constant that is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter and starts off 3.14159...

Land surveyors of Rani Engineering in Minneapolis actually put pi to use every day. "When it comes to circles and angles and distances, that's kind of what we do all day, every day," says Land Surveying Group Leader Eric Lindgren.

The formula comes in handy when they are figuring the weight of support bases that run along the light rail. Senior Survey Project Surveyor, Walter Gregory explains, "So, by taking the formula pr^2 times the depth and multiplying that by 142 pounds per cubic foot, I was able to determine the weight of these concrete bases, which would be six tons."

Circles are everywhere, once you start looking. Or if you've given up on the number pi, you can grab a slice to eat instead.


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