{"id":415148,"date":"2023-03-13T14:25:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-13T18:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.nicolethemathlady.com\/show-me-your-pi\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T14:57:01","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T14:57:01","slug":"show-me-your-pi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.nicolethemathlady.com\/show-me-your-pi\/","title":{"rendered":"Show Me Your Pi!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>March 14th is Pi Day and I wanna do a thing.  I want to teach our kids what Pi actually means.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pi (<em>\u03c0<\/em>)&#8230;you know that thing kids proudly memorize as being approximately 3.14 or 22\/7.  I betcha though, if I asked most kids what pi actually represents, I think the majority wouldn&#8217;t know.  So let&#8217;s teach it to them in a hands-on, fun, and memorable way.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s what we did at our house&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Happy Pi Day...Discover What Pi is for Yourself!\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uZLYbeepwvo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Your Mission, if you choose to accept it:  Make a Pie.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Any pie:  apple, cherry, pumpkin, sweet potato,&#8230;ummmm chocolate pecan pie&#8230;(sorry I got carried away in my thoughts there for a moment)&#8230;key lime, lemon meringue, peach&#8230;even a pizza pie will do.  You choose.  Store bought pies or pizza delivery will also work just fine&#8230;I won&#8217;t tell anyone!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Circumference and Diameter<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Once your pies are ready, have your kiddos do two things:  take the circumference and the diameter of the pie.  Let&#8217;s break these terms down: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Circumference &#8211; the distance around the outside of the pie<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Diameter &#8211; the distance across the middle of the pie (at its widest point)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"531\" height=\"369\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.nicolethemathlady.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Circumference-and-diameter.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-415151\" style=\"width:500px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.nicolethemathlady.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Circumference-and-diameter.png 531w, https:\/\/blog.nicolethemathlady.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Circumference-and-diameter-300x208.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 531px) 100vw, 531px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Finding Pi<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Since our pies are circles, it&#8217;s probably easiest to use a piece of string to measure the circumference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Measure<\/strong> &#8211;   Have your student place the string at a starting point on the outside of the crust, and then wrap it around the outside of the pie.  Mark it and measure the length of the string.   Now, have your student measure the diameter by placing the string on one side of the pie and go directly across the middle of the pie.  Mark it and measure it.  <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Divide<\/strong> &#8211; Here&#8217;s the formula:  Circumference \u00f7 Diameter.  If you&#8217;re using a calculator, type in the circumference, hit the division sign, type in the diameter, and hit the equal sign.  If you&#8217;re doing the work on paper (yeah for you!), remember circumference is the dividend, so we put it in the inside of the division sign.  <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Find Pi<\/strong> &#8211; Voila, your answer should be somewhat close to 3.14159265359 or 3.14 for short.  (It may not be this number exactly as we have to account for a little human error in measuring, but your number should be in the vicinity.)  <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Want to make it even cooler?  Make two pies of different sizes.  You&#8217;ll get to see how that ratio of circumference to diameter is the same no matter the size of your pie.  Who said math can&#8217;t be cool?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Want to get fancy?  You can go a step further and <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/202847415\/4c0719ab37\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">learn how to use pi to find the area of a circle.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>I will create a post on the Nicole the Math Lady Facebook Group<\/strong>.  (If you&#8217;re not part of our closed FB group for NTML members, click on the link at the bottom of your email to request permission to join.)  Post your photos\/videos of your pies there.  Help me create a little army of junior mathematicians who really understand pi.  Can&#8217;t wait to hear how all about it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nicole<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>March 14th is Pi Day and I wanna do a thing. I want to teach our kids what Pi actually [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,16,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-415148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-classroom-ideas","category-encouragement","category-schooling-at-home"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blog.nicolethemathlady.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Untitled-8.5-\u00d7-11-in-1.png","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/blog.nicolethemathlady.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Untitled-8.5-\u00d7-11-in-1.png",2000,1455,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/blog.nicolethemathlady.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Untitled-8.5-\u00d7-11-in-1-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/blog.nicolethemathlady.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Untitled-8.5-\u00d7-11-in-1-300x218.png",300,218,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/blog.nicolethemathlady.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Untitled-8.5-\u00d7-11-in-1-768x559.png",768,559,true],"large":["https:\/\/blog.nicolethemathlady.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Untitled-8.5-\u00d7-11-in-1-1024x745.png",1024,745,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/blog.nicolethemathlady.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Untitled-8.5-\u00d7-11-in-1-1536x1117.png",1536,1117,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/blog.nicolethemathlady.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Untitled-8.5-\u00d7-11-in-1.png",2000,1455,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Nicole Thomas","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.nicolethemathlady.com\/author\/nicolethemathlady\/"},"uagb_comment_info":105,"uagb_excerpt":"March 14th is Pi Day and I wanna do a thing. 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