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“easy as pi” is a documentary short all about “pi day”: the celebration of the mysterious and intriguing math symbol “pi.” Personal interviews and activity documentation fill the gaps between what pi is, to memorizing hundreds of pi digits, to writing a song about pi, and much more.

What is pi?

pi is a mathematical symbol that stands for the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle. It is irrational and infinite: no patterns, no repetition, no end. Scientists and math fans have spent lifetimes trying to solve pi, but a new digit is always discovered and added on. The record belongs to Takahashi Kanada in 1995 from the University of Tokyo with a whopping 6, 442, 450, 938 digits.

What is pi day?

pi day is a celebration with pi and pie. Since the mathematical symbol “pi” is approximately equal to 3.14159, it is celebrated every 3rd month, 14th day at 1:59 pm (hence the first 6 digits listed above.)

What occurs on pi day?

Free pie is given out. There is also a contest to see who can recite the most digits of pi from memory.  (Remember that pi is a non-repeating and never-ending number)

Why a documentary on pi day?

Good question! I love documentaries including the recent hits “Spellbound,” “Capturing the Friedmans,” “Super size Me,” “Word Wars,” “Bowling for Columbine,” and the list goes on. As a film student at Humber College, I knew the independent production assignment was coming up in my 3rd and final year. (September 2004) I had the pi day idea for over a year from a conversation with my sister who is a Computer Science student at the University of Waterloo. (thanks Jen!)

Somehow the event pi day came up and she was telling me about how it was celebrated every March 14, and I was quite intrigued. From that moment on I was hooked and wanted to find out everything I could about this pi day. Since I enjoy watching documentaries and enjoy the process involved in creating one, it was a natural choice to choose a doc for my grad piece. The pi dream was born.

Technical Specs

-mini dv
-colour
-14 minutes

 

A big THANKS!

To all the following people for helping and contributing to “easy as pi” so far:

Lino Demasi
Greg Hines
Ryan Jones
Lars Erickson
Grandma & Grandpa Geddess
Solomon Isaak
Giselle Acosta
Matt Lazzarini
Emma Erickson
Kaitlyn Holman
Peter Lukow
Yazmary Mora
Peter Garfield
Totally Sweet Radio
University of Waterloo & Participants

Take a bite out of this website :D

-katie