# You're reading: Posts Tagged: pi

### I’m going to run πkm every day in March

Inspired by the BBC’s Sport Relief fundraising campaign, I’ve decided to set myself a vaguely mathematical running challenge. My current routine does involve a little running, but nothing serious, so I’ve given myself a bar to aim for that’s both vaguely achievable, and completely irrational.

I’ll aim to run π kilometres (or as close as I can get, with the measuring instruments I have access to) each day during the month of March. This will either be on the treadmill at my gym – in which case I’ll try to get a photo of the ‘total distance’ readout once I’ve finished – or out in the real world, for which I’ll use some kind of running GPS logging device, to provide proof I’ve done it each day. Some days I’ll run on my own, and others I’ll be accompanied by friends/relatives, who’ll be either running as well or just making supportive noises. At the end of the month, I’ll post an update documenting my progress/success/failure.

Serious request: if you know of anywhere in the UK I can reasonably get to where there’s an established circle that’s exactly 1km in diameter, I can try to come and run round the circumference of it. Drop me an email if so.

If you’d like to support my ridiculous plan, you can follow my progress and donate on my fundraising page, or encourage others to do so by visiting pikm.run (I paid £4 for the URL, so now I have to do it). Sport Relief is the even-numbered-years-counterpart of Comic Relief, which together raise money for thousands of projects all over the UK and in the developing world, to help the vulnerable and those in need.

### Measuring π with a pendulum

Friends of the Aperiodical, nerd-comedy troupe Festival of the Spoken Nerd, are currently on tour around the UK. As part of their show, questionably titled You Can’t Polish a Nerd, Matt Parker attempts to calculate the value of $\pi$ using only a length of string and some meat encased in pastry. He’s previously done this on YouTube, and the idea was inspired by the Aperiodical’s 2015 Pi Approximation Challenge, and in particular my own attempt to approximate $\pi$ with a (more conventional) pendulum.

### “π – It’s Complicated” – a talk I gave on Pi Day 2016 at Ustinov College Café Scientifique

I was invited to give a talk for Ustinov College’s Café Scientifique on π Day this year. The turnout wasn’t great and I put quite a bit of effort into the slides, so I wanted to put it online. I’ve finally got hold of the recording, so here it is. Unfortunately they didn’t set the camera’s exposure properly, making the screen illegible, so you’ll probably want to follow along with the slides in another window.

I tried to come up with a way of writing today’s date as a multiple of π Day, but couldn’t make it work. However, I did realise that Halloween (31/10) is the best approximation to π between now and the next π day (I think). Sπooky!

### Mathematical app roundup, October 2015

I notice that our post queue is filling up with interesting mathematical apps, so I thought I’d deal with them all in one big roundup post. Read on for a mix of mathematical games, apps to help with calculations, and some frankly awful art.

### A geometrical approximation for π

If you were paying very close attention last week, you’ll have noticed my attempt to come up with an estimate of π, geometrically, as part of The Aperiodical’s π Day challenge (even if it’s not really π Day):

### Pi Day 2015: The Aperiodical goes π mad

Happy π day everyone! I hope you’re having a great day, and having lots of fun mathematical parties.

You may have noticed that here at The Aperiodical, we’ve been posting exciting π-related items all week – and here’s a list of them all, collected into one handy place. Enjoy!