On March 14, Becton’s Mu Alpha Theta Society put together an immersive event celebrating Pi Day, emphasizing the importance of mathematics.
The Mu Alpha Theta Society is a nationally recognized honor society for students who excel in math. To become a member, one must show the qualities of knowledge in math, leadership, and integrity to be initiated. The group organizes fun and enriching math based activities for the greater school community.
Society advisor and math teacher, Mr. Malyack, reflects on the inspiration of Pi Day and explains that over the three years of hosting the event, the main purpose has been to highlight the importance of math. Malylack explains, “Math is present all around us in our world and on Pi day we have the chance to educate people on its importance.”
Pi Day gives students a break from the traditional math class setting– exploring math in a more fun and hands-on approach. With activities such as a pi chain where visitors put their name on a colorful link of a large chain– each color representing a different digit of pi aimed to make an artistic representation of the ever changing number. There were additional activities such as a card game where students tried to get the first 10 digits of pi first, and a dice game where students tried to roll a 3,1, and 4 at the same time (the probability of doing so at once was approximately pi%.) Last but not least, there was a competition to memorize the longest string of numbers in Pi for a prize, with this year’s number at 129 digits!
Society members Mia Natale and Gracie Taylor recalled their experience at Pi Day– expressing how interesting it was to see creativity and mathematics combined. Taylor explains, “I liked being able to try out all the games with my friends and being a part of the big pi chain.” One notable experience for many students was being able to interact with other peers while at the event, adding an extra element of fun to math! Natale writes, “I enjoyed Pi Day because it was interesting and fun to participate in all of the activities, and see others enjoy the experience as well!”
This year’s Pi Day was nothing short of a success, providing an exciting and interactive experience for students to see the importance of math and just how much of our everyday lives is made up of math in some way, shape, or form. The dedication and creativity of the Mu Alpha Theta Society members as well as the help from administration, head of STEM, custodial staff, and math department, contributed to the great outcome of Pi Day this year!
