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OND is a regular community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing each day near 12:00AM Eastern Time. Special thanks to JekyllnHyde for the OND banner. Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
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On Pi Day, Let's Gawk At The Beauty And Controversy Of The Math Constant
NPR
Mathematician Carlos Castillo-Chavez says that pi is so important to math that using its simple, geometric definition denies its greater powers.
"[Pi] brings you into the world of mathematics, which is magic, mysterious and exciting and always full of challenges for everybody," Castillo-Chavez said.
First calculated 4,000 years ago, pi represents the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. You learned it as 3.14, which is why today some take the chance to bask in the brilliance and beauty of the mathematical constant, while others try to tear it down.
Castillo-Chavez is firmly in the pro-pi camp. He studies epidemics at Arizona State University, and he says pi is used to study everything that cycles — waves and heart pulses and anything that recurs.