March 14, 2019, is the 31st anniversary of the math-inspired holiday pi day! Pi, denoted by the Greek letter “π”, was first celebrated in 1988 by physicist Larry Shaw at the San Francisco Exploratorium science museum. This irrational and transcendental number is celebrated at the Campus Recreation Complex (CRC) with the annual Pi Day 5K Run/Walk.

The event takes place Thursday, March 14th at 7:30 am. This year you can secure your shirt early and avoid standing in line on the day of the event with a paid pre-registration option of only $5. This will guarantee you the shirt color and size of your choice. Options this year include heather Galapagos blue or heather coral silk with our new shirt design. You can also pre-register for FREE and on the day of the event, however, a shirt is not guaranteed.

This national holiday is celebrated by math enthusiasts around the world. Various ancient civilizations calculated approximations of pi, including the Egyptians, Babylonians, and there’s even a reference to the dimensions of a circle in the Bible, but the first calculation of pi as 3.14 is attributed to Greek mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse, who lived in the third century B.C. It was also determined by Chinese mathematician Zu Chongzhi (429–501), who computed pi to nine decimal places. Mathematicians adopted the symbol π in the 1700s after being made popular by Welsh mathematics teacher William Jones in 1706.

All members of the Georgia Tech community are welcome to attend this event, including students, staff, faculty, alumni, and affiliates. Additionally, you do not need to be a member of the CRC to participate. Pre-registration is now open and closes Feb. 21st. To register go to crc.gatech.edu/piday. This event is sponsored in part by Barnes & Noble at Georgia Tech, Georgia Tech Dining Services, Georgia Tech Police Department, and Health Initiatives.