Today is Pi day!!  This year it is extra special because it is 2015.  You can really get crazy with it this year, at 9:26 and 53 seconds, either in the morning or the evening.  We are just “celebrating” with a nice chocolate cream pie the boys and I made, the recipe is at the bottom.

But first…what is Pi and why the funny symbol?

The number π is a mathematical constant representing the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. It’s an irrational number, meaning that it can’t be represented by a common fraction.  The decimal places never end, and they never settle into a permanent repeating pattern.

π is the Greek symbol for the letter “p.” It was taken from the Greek word for “perimeter.”

Now some fun facts about Pi:

The value of pi has now been calculated to more than two trillion decimal places.

The world record for memorizing the value of pi was set by Chao Lu of China in 2005. He correctly recited from memory its first 67,890 digits.

It took him 24 hours and four seconds at a rate of 47 digits a minute without food or toilet breaks.

He had planned to recite 93,000 digits but made a mistake at the 67,891st.

If you write “3.14” on a piece of paper and hold it up to a mirror, it looks like the word “PIE”.  (so yeah, I actually did this…it’s a bit of a stretch, but you can see it…kinda sorta) 🙂

Albert Einstein was born on Pi Day: March 14, 1879.

The first six digits of pi (314159) appear in order at least six times among the first 10 million decimal places of pi.

You only really need 39 decimal places of pi for computing the circumference of a circle – your error will be no greater than the radius of a hydrogen atom.  I think we all know an atom is pretty small.

Things like this with numbers just fascinates me.  I think if I really applied myself, I could be a real math geek, LOL.

Now for the good stuff…PIE!!

I took the easy route, and used a Pillsbury Pet-Ritz already made pie crust, the deep-dish kind, Dream Whip Topping Mix, and chocolate pudding.

Ingredients:
2 envelopes  DREAM WHIP Whipped Topping Mix
2-3/4 cups  cold milk, divided
1 tsp.  vanilla
2 pkg.  (3.9 oz. each) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding
1  baked pie crust (9 inch), cooled

BEAT whipped topping mix, 1 cup milk and vanilla in large bowl with mixer on high speed 6 min. or until soft peaks form.

ADD remaining milk and dry pudding mixes; beat on low speed until blended. Beat on high speed 2 min., stopping occasionally to scrape bottom and side of bowl. Spoon into crust.

REFRIGERATE 4 hours or until firm.

My mom used to use Dream Whip all the time, this was very easy and delicious.  We added Whipped Topping and chocolate chips to the top of ours. (couldn’t get a good pic of it, had to use one from the web).

HAPPY PI DAY!!

Links to the info about Pi:

http://www.9news.com/story/life/2015/03/13/pi-day-facts-figures-irrational-number/24710313/

http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/top10facts/384163/Top-10-facts-about-pi