As Easy as 3.1415

In celebration of National Pi Day (which as of this year is a holiday declared by Congress), the Princeton Math Club hosted its annual pie eating and pi reciting contest.

Although pi day is officially March 14th (3.14...get it?), the math club celebrated a day early this year because of Spring Break. The inaccuracy didn't deter any of the revelry. In fact, you could say they had their pi and ate it too.

Although no single person competed for the double-pi (pi squared?), there were seven who entered the pie eating contest and five who recited digits of pi.

There was a slight debate over whether or not forks should be allowed in the pie eating contest. A Math Club officer settled the debate. "We'll use forks," he said. "We're all civilized mathematicians here."

The victorious speed eater, Joe Wilder '11, wolfed down his pie without a fork, though. Wilder consumed his peach pie in 1 minute, 19 seconds.  "I really like peach pie," Wilder explained.

Not all competitors were able to finish their pies.  One competitor, who attempted to eat an unidentified cheese-like pie, explained "I don't know what kind of pie that was, but I'm never eating it again."

In the pi digit recitation contest, it was the final competitor who took the cake (pi?). Zhi Ming '11 recited 188 digits of pi.  The second finisher had memorized 160. Ming recited in Chinese, but fortunately members of the judging staff were able to translate.

March 14th is also Albert Einstein's birthday, giving Princeton mathematicians another cause to celebrate.