Pi (π) Day
Thursday, March 14, 2024 • 11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.
Join the 37th annual celebration of our own homegrown holiday! March 14th (3/14) commemorates the irrational, transcendent, and never-ending ratio that helps describe circles of all sizes. Explore math-inspired activities and presentations, then join our pi parade and eat a free piece of pie. Come for the STEAM and stay for the slice!
Pi Procession
1:59 p.m.
Moore Gallery 4
Grab your digit and get in line for the annual Pi Procession! A high-spirited crowd parades through the museum and circles the Pi Shrine 3.14 times, waving the digits of pi and dancing along to a brass band. All participants will enjoy a free slice of pie following the parade.
More details to be announced.
What Is Pi (π) Day?
Founded in 1988 at the Exploratorium, Pi (π) Day has become an international holiday, celebrated live and online all around the world. The numbers in the date (3/14) match the first three digits of the mathematical constant pi.
What is pi, anyway? Divide any circle’s circumference by its diameter; the answer (whether for a pie plate or a planet) is always approximately 3.14, a number we represent with the Greek letter π. Keep calculating pi’s digits with more and more accuracy—as mathematicians have been doing for 4,000 years—and you’ll discover they go on literally forever, with no pattern.
![Thomas Degeorge (1786–1854), The Death of Archimedes (detail), 1815. Collection of the Musée d’Art Roger-Quilliot Museum [MARQ], City of Clermont-Ferrand, France.](/sites/default/files/styles/responsive_16_9_350w/public/2022-01/Piday_960x380-7302-OBV-large.jpg.webp?itok=7zON61y4)
At-Home Pi Day Celebrations
Share your celebrations by tagging @Exploratorium #PiDaySF
