BYU celebrates math with annual Pi Day event

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Pie and pi filled BYU’s Brigham Square during the Mathematics Department’s annual Pi Day event.

Students and faculty alike participated in the festivities at the pi-themed booths by “pieing” a professor, participating in pie eating contests and reciting the decimals of pi.

Pi Day event coordinator Nicole Berriman said the Mathematics Department added more than just academics into this year’s event.

“We tried to incorporate academics and arts and athletics all into one event,” Berriman said.

There were new athletic booths, such as an inflatable basketball hoop that challenged students hand-eye coordination, as well as a frisbee throwing and a beanbag toss.

There were many new activities at this year’s Pi Day. One of these new activities was a booth that focuses on March Madness. Faculty explained the concepts of probability in bracket guessing to help students win in their fantasy leagues. 

BYU student Sam Feist  won the pie eating contest and credited his win to his deep love for pie.

“I love food and it’s free and there was pumpkin and I love pumpkin pie,” Feist said.

Several faculty members helped students relieve stress during the “pieing” activities. Faculty gave students the chance to line up to try to pie them in the face

Mathematics professor Michael Dorff was among the professors getting pied, and helped organize the event. He hopes students can find the fun in math.

“I hope they can get that math can be fun,” Dorff said. “There are a lot of ways that math is used in the world and you don’t need to be afraid of math, math is fun.”

Professors Jim Brau and Scott Glasgow also allowed students to pie them. They were happy to participate as long as they could do it together.

“I like this,” Brau said. “The math department throws this to raise awareness of math and of STEM and I think that’s awesome.”

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