Happy Pi Day!

Because Pi is 3.14, you see. I hope math enthusiasts everywhere are having a great day. I will celebrate it the only way I know how, and I hope all of you will do the same. On that note, here's a little something to further diminish your faith in humanity:

It happened in Indiana. Although the attempt to legislate pi was ultimately unsuccessful, it did come pretty close. In 1897 Representative T.I. Record of Posen county introduced House Bill #246 in the Indiana House of Representatives. The bill, based on the work of a physician and amateur mathematician named Edward J. Goodwin (Edwin in some accounts), suggests not one but three numbers for pi, among them 3.2, as we shall see. The punishment for unbelievers I have not been able to learn, but I place no credence in the rumor that you had to spend the rest of your natural life in Indiana.

Just as people today have a hard time accepting the idea that the speed of light is the speed limit of the universe, Goodwin and Record apparently couldn't handle the fact that pi was not a rational number. "Since the rule in present use [presumably pi equals 3.14159...] fails to work ..., it should be discarded as wholly wanting and misleading in the practical applications," the bill declared.

I am glad that Congress has figured out how to fix the war, recession, continued existence of Dancing with the Stars, etc, so they've got time to get in on the act. From Politico:

“It makes you realize how consequential you really are,” Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.) said with a smile.

Oh, fine, fine. Good to have that sorted out.