3/14/15 is Pi-est of Pi Days!

by Fiona Shields

Every March 14, we celebrate the day where mathematics and round food intersect -- π (Pi) Day! Pi, the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, has drawn many admirers for its infinite, non-repeating digits as an irrational and transcendental number. It's been calculated to the ten trillionth digit, and math enthusiasts and students all around the world challenge themselves to memorize pi 100 (or 67890) places past the decimal point!

Since pi begins with 3.14159, it only makes sense that March 14 (3/14) has been nationally recognized as Pi Day. This year has special significance as it will occur on 3/14/15, or the first six digits of pi!

This mathematical constant also has the happy coincidence of having a homophone that's one of our favorite round baked goods -- pie. This is how we like to observe Pi Day (and also Alfred Einstein's birthday), but we encourage you to eat or enjoy anything circular in shape!

To celebrate Pi Day to the pi-est, have a slice of pie on 3/14/15 at 9:26 am/pm and check out one of our materials related to pi, pie, or mathematics:

All About Pi:
[Pi]: A Biography of the World's Most Mysterious Number by Alfred S. Posamentier & Ingmar Lehmann

All About Pie:
Mrs. Rowe's Little Book of Southern Pies by Mollie Cox Bryan
The Hoosier Mama Book of Pie by Paula Haney
Desserts from the famous Loveless Cafe by Alisa Huntsman
Easy as Vegan Pie by Hannah Kaminsky
First Prize Pies by Allison Kave
Pie School: Lessons in Fruit, Flour, and Butter by Kate Lebo
Pies and Tarts by Kristina Petersen Migoya
The Southern Pie Book by Jan Moon
Vegan Pie in the Sky by Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero

Mathematics and Numbers:
The Joy of Mathematics Parts 1 & 2 (DVD) by Arthur T. Benjamin
The Queen of the Sciences: A History of Mathematics (DVD) by David M. Bressoud
Zero to Infinity: A History of Numbers Parts 1 & 2 (DVD) by Edward B. Burger
The Number Sense: How the Mind Creates Mathematics by Stanislas Dehaene
Math in Minutes by Paul Glendinning
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter
The Man Who Knew Infinity by Robert Kanigel
A History of Mathematics by Uta C. Merzbach and Carl B. Boyer
Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension by Matt Parker
Cosmic Numbers: The Numbers That Define Our Universe by James D. Stein
Math Girls by Hiroshi Yuki

Cake Pans @ Your Library

Sometimes you just need a special cake pan. You want to try to make cake pops, or one of your children wants Hello Kitty birthday cake and your other child's soccer team won a big game and wants to celebrate. But maybe you just need a special cake pan just to make one cake and you don't want to buy a special pan.  What can you do?  Go to the library!

Beginning April first, you will find cake pans in the library catalog! Cake pans will check out for 3 weeks.  Customers are limited to 1 cake pan at a time per library card, and you will not be able to check out another "Gizmo" (Kindle Keyboard, Every Child Ready to Read Literacy Kit, Kill-a-Watt) while you have a cake pan checked out.

If you are looking for baking and/or handling tips for your cake pan, the cake pan's record in the library catalog will link to our Cake Pan LibGuide and many of the pan records link to a PDF document with additional baking and decorating ideas. The Cake Pan LibGuide also has a list of available cake pans and a list of helpful links.

Most of the pans are medium gauge aluminum. We do ask that you please wash the cake pan according to handling instructions before returning it to the library.  A damaged item fee of $2 will be charged for cake pans returned dirty. Return your cake pan to the circulation desk of your local library.  Please do not put the cake pan in the book drop.

If you want to share a picture of the cake you made using one of the library's pans, send a picture and we will post it on Facebook!  Email them to library@cabq.gov.