Super Pi Day Celebrations: Three Weddings And Lots Of Pie


Super Pi Day celebrations, held March 14, 2015, meant a host of good nerdy fun at science museums nationwide – and lots of pie to celebrate the once-in-a-lifetime event.

Pi Day comes every year on March 14, as the month and day correspond to the mathematical expression of Pi, or 3.14. Super Pi Day is different, though.

Yesterday, March 14, 2015, was translated to 3.1415 in geek speak, which means yesterday was a Perfect Pi Day, according to the Washington Post.

Also known as Super Pi Day by some, the month, day, and year matching Pi out two more decimal points only happens once every 100 years.

For those who don’t remember elementary school math, Pi, usually represented by the Greek letter ?, is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, according to the Harvey Mudd Math Department.

Pi Represented as a decimal point

When rendered mathematically, Pi is an infinite number, which is why mathematicians, teachers, and most other people express Pi in its short version – 3.14. Pi is also known as an irrational number because the decimal places never end and never repeat.

One couple that loves the irrational number, Mike Karmel and Maggie Donahue, married on Pi Day at the Carnegie Institution for Science, according to the Washington Post. The two are just the type of couple one might expect to get married on Super Pi Day – both are into science fiction, circles, and pie, of course.

Donahue said she only agreed to get married on Pi day because she could serve pie – four types, to be exact.

Donahue has another claim to Pi Day fame, though. She helped create the Eta Bita Pi “sorority” at Colgate University, according to the Washington Post. That group “became one of the largest student groups on campus.”

Another couple whose Pi Day celebration included marriage was Theresa Fulton and Kris Finch, according to the Wall Street Journal. The couple went all out on the Pi references at their San Luis Obispo, California, wedding, despite the fact that Finch said he didn’t know what Pi day was before meeting Fulton.

The wedding was set to begin at 9.26.53 – the next decimal places after 3.1415. Reception food included 3.14 wedding pies and cakes, “pi-erogies, and pi-napple,” while the floral arrangements included a “Venus Pi-Trap,” and bouquets of 3.14 flowers, according to the Wall Street Journal.

A third couple, Annie Bakken and Lee Richards, also married on Pi Day yesterday, according to InForum.

Bakken said neither of the two is a mathematician, but she admitted that they are “both kind of nerds,” and they both love pie, “more than any other dessert,” according to InForum.

The couple will go all out for their Pi Day wedding, with napkins and aprons featuring Pi, and Bakken will even throw her bouquet at 9.26 p.m. to further the decimal places represented at the wedding.

Making the wedding reception even more special for the couple on Super Pi Day was the fact that the couple’s aunts and great aunts would bake most of the 40 to 50 pies served at the reception.

Pi Day began “unofficially” in the United States when physicist Larry Shaw from Princeton University founded it 27 years ago, according to the Exploratorium. Shaw worked at the San Francisco-based science museum when he created the day in 1988.

The Pi formula has been understood for 4,000 years, according to the Exploratorium.

Despite this fact, Congress lagged in acting to recognize the favorite day of number lovers everywhere. Congress finally relented to recognize Pi Day on March 9, 2009, according to Pi Day.

Although the once-in-a-century event will not come again until 2115, Pi lovers can celebrate every March 14 until then.

[Photo Credit: Mudd Math Fun Facts, Holger Motzkau/Wikimedia Commons]

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