Praise of Pi makes for rare event at OH WOW! Saturday

March 15, 2015 at 12:08a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

When Anna Olivier began her day, she probably didn’t realize she would be part of an effort to break a local record on a day that comes once every 100 years.

“We broke the hula-hoop record,” the 12-year-old Boardman Center Middle School student said. “It was a blast.”

Anna was among 46 people who performed a variety of hula-hoop gyrations while eating pie, which set the record. The previous mark was 28.

In addition to enjoying pie for dessert, she enjoyed learning more about pi for fun. She was able to do both courtesy of Saturday’s Pi Day at OH WOW! The Roger & Gloria Jones Children’s Center for Science & Technology at 11 W. Federal St., downtown.

The seven-hour event was to celebrate pi, the Greek mathematical symbol denoting the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. The gathering also offered a series of interactive activities to encourage participants to explore the wonders of geometry, noted Audra Carlson, the center’s education director.

Saturday was selected as the day to honor the Greek symbol around the world because the date was 3/14/15, which happens only once each century, and the approximate numerical value of pi is 3.1415. In addition, March 14 is Albert Einstein’s birthday.

Anna said she enjoyed a game and a skit in which participants used strings to measure pizza and other round foods common at birthday parties. The object was to try to find the perfect circle, she explained.

Anna added that she’s also part of her school’s robotics team, which took top honors in a contest last week.

Youngstown State University freshmen Mark Holland and Kayla Theisler were using paper instead of pizza to celebrate pi.

“We’re trying to have every guest make a link on

our chain,” said Theisler, a mechanical-engineering major who was referring to a growing chain made of colored paper.

Since pi is an irrational number, meaning one that has no end, Theisler and Holland had a piece of paper on which was the value expressed to about 393 digits after the decimal point.

Nine colors of construction paper were on hand, each representing 1 through 9, and attendees were asked to help build the chain with colors in order of the 393 digits, explained Holland, a chemical-engineering major. As of early afternoon, 115 links had been completed, he said.

Holland added that the finished chain will be about 150 feet long and likely will hang in the center’s lobby.

“It’s definitely important to keep kids engaged and involved in math,” noted Theisler, who also hopes to enter an aerospace program.

Other activities related to pi included using paint and bubbles to measure circles, offering dry-ice demonstrations and having attendees say as many numbers in pi as possible. Those who missed one received a surprise, said education director Carlson.

“We had them recite as many digits as they can, and when they messed up, they got a pie to the face,” she said with laughter.

In addition, people who brought prepackaged pies to be donated to the St. Vincent De Paul Society of Youngstown received a discount to the center — $3.14, of course.

Also happy with the festivities was Suzanne Barbati, OH WOW’s executive director.

“It’s so exciting to see so many families coming downtown to visit OH WOW! and all of the other businesses and restaurants in the area,” she said.