Math Tricks » pi http://mathtricks.org Math Tricks + Math Games = Math Fun! Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:44:59 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 The Pi Game http://mathtricks.org/math-games/the-pi-game/ http://mathtricks.org/math-games/the-pi-game/#comments Thu, 08 Mar 2012 23:24:55 +0000 Math Tricks http://mathtricks.org/?p=762


Happy Pi Day 2012!

I am a little early with this post, but there is good reason.  For Pi Day 2012, I made a game that you can play online, and right here!  I thought really hard about coming up with a name for it, and after mulling through many candidate names, I came up with, “The Pi Game“.  Yea, yea – the creative juices were flowing!

Anyway, you do need Flash installed in order to play it, so if you do, you are in luck!  If not, then I am sorry – but you can download it here.   If you would rather download a windows version of this game, please download it from our download page.

The object of the game is to get as many digits of Pi displayed as you can by hitting the Pi ball with the paddle.  In order to get the next digit, you also have to have the correct digit selected.  Use the keyboard to select the next digit; you can also use the keypad.

If for some reason you do not know the first 80 digits of Pi, hit the “P” key to have it displayed.

High scores are recorded and stored on your local computer.

The game is working well, but this is the first release – thus the reason I posted a few days before the actual Pi Day 2012.  If you find anything buggy with it, please let me know!

 




 

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]]> http://mathtricks.org/math-games/the-pi-game/feed/ 0 Boot Pi and Embrace Tau? http://mathtricks.org/real-life-math/bad-math/boot-pi-and-embrace-tau/ http://mathtricks.org/real-life-math/bad-math/boot-pi-and-embrace-tau/#comments Fri, 01 Jul 2011 19:31:02 +0000 Math Tricks http://mathtricks.org/?p=428


There has been a movement over the last decade to replace pi with it’s 2X equivalent – tau.  Bob Palais of the University of Utah and his followers insist that this would be a more meaningful ‘constant’, and would lead to less mistakes in the calculations of innumerable individuals.

Nice try, Palais et al.  Would you also have us trash Euler’s identity or the countless text books in circulation?  Sounds like you are just trying to cement your place in mathematical history.  Well, IMHO, this is not a good idea, and I am 100% against it.  I really don’t think much will come of this, but, just in case, maybe I should take in some of the textbook publishers out there!

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]]> http://mathtricks.org/real-life-math/bad-math/boot-pi-and-embrace-tau/feed/ 4 Pi Day Song http://mathtricks.org/math-art/pi-day-song/ http://mathtricks.org/math-art/pi-day-song/#comments Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:05:16 +0000 Math Tricks http://mathtricks.org/?p=235


Happy Pi Day!  Pi day occurs each year on (Surprise!) 3-14.

I found a great video on youtube where a violin player composed a song using pi to 220 decimals.  The description reads:

Composed for PI Day! Imagine being able to hear PI as musical notes! This is a violin solo composed by Steven Rochen, based on the numbers of PI to 220 decimal places. Numbers were converted to notes: 0 = rest, 1=A, 2=A#…(10, 11, 12 as found in the sequence were treated as one note)

Here is the video – enjoy!

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