Dickson College marked Pi Day this year with a Pi memorising competition for students from schools across the Territory.
Pi Day, which is celebrated annually around the world on the US calendar’s 3/14 (pi=3.14), attracted 32 students to Dickson.
The students, from nine schools, competed in four categories – Primary, High School, College and Open. Together they recited 5,078 digits of Pi, a mathematical constant that appears in many formulas in mathematics and physics.
Competition organiser and mathematics teacher at Dickson College, Caroline Evers said Pi was a very useful number.
“I started this competition when I was at Kaleen Primary School 10 years ago,” Ms Evers said.
“Pi turns up time and time again in mathematics and physics. It’s a very useful number and it is worth remembering that.”
She said that because the digits of Pi are non-repeating and have no pattern, memorising and reciting Pi to hundreds of places — as some of the students did — was an impressive accomplishment.
“We often celebrate athletic abilities, so why not celebrate something more cognitive?” Ms Evers said.
The overall winner of the competition was a student from Lyneham High School, who recited Pi to 1,056 digits.
The Primary School Category winner, Peter Yang (pictured) from Giralang Primary School, recited Pi to 501 digits.
