Celebrating Pi Day with Pizza in Stellenbosch and Sandton

This March, ORSSA members and their guests came together to celebrate Pi Day in the best possible way: with pizza, good conversation, and a shared love of mathematics and Operations Research.

Pre Pi Day Pizza in Stellenbosch.

Two recent socials were held to mark the occasion, one at Casa Cerveza in Stellenbosch on 12 March and another at Milk Bar in Sandton on 19 March. Both events brought together members of the OR community for an evening of connection, laughter, and, of course, plenty of pizza.

Not Quite Pi day Joburg ORSSA social.

Pi Day is celebrated around the world on 14 March each year, in honour of the mathematical constant π (pi) - the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, approximately 3.14159. As an irrational and transcendental number, pi continues infinitely without repeating, which has made it both an essential mathematical constant and a source of fascination for generations of maths lovers.

The symbol π was first used for this number by the British mathematician William Jones in 1706, inspired by the Greek words for “periphery” and “perimeter”. Pi Day itself began much later, in 1988, when physicist Larry Shaw organised the first celebration at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Since then, it has grown into an internationally recognised occasion that celebrates mathematics, science, and curiosity.

For ORSSA, Pi Day offered a wonderful excuse to bring members together and celebrate the vibrant community that exists around Operations Research. Over slices of excellent pizza - whose area, fittingly, can be calculated as πr² - attendees had the chance to catch up, meet fellow members, and share their enthusiasm for the discipline.

Pi is also famous for the challenge it presents to those who attempt to memorise its digits. The Guinness World Record for the most decimal places of pi memorised is 70 000, achieved by Rajveer Meena of India on 21 March 2015. Remarkably, he completed the recall while blindfolded, taking nearly 10 hours. Japanese engineer and mental health counsellor Akira Haraguchi is also well known for his unofficial feat of reciting 111 700 decimal places of pi.

As if Pi Day needed any more significance, Albert Einstein was born on 14 March 1879, and renowned physicist Stephen Hawking passed away on 14 March 2018, adding even more meaning to the date for science enthusiasts around the world.

Thank you to everyone who joined the Stellenbosch and Sandton socials and helped make these gatherings such a success. We look forward to more opportunities to connect as a community.

To stay updated on future ORSSA events, keep an eye on the events page.

And for a bit of fun, you can even find your birthday in pi at www.mypiday.com