Pi Approximation Day Menu
Step One:
Step Two:
Select your pie (see below)
Select your serving style:
- Pie with chips and salad; OR
- Pie Floater (on a bed of mushy green peas)
Meal Only:
Meal with Recommended Beverages:
Pie
The Archimedes of Syracuse
Seafood Mornay Pie
$15.00
$22.70
Recommended Serving Style
Chips and Salad
Recommended Beverage
Howard Park ‘Flint Rock’ Chardonnay
Marlborough, New Zealand
The Mādhava of Sañgamāgrama Chips and Salad
Beef Korma Pie
James Squire ‘One Fifty Lashes’ Pale Ale
568mL pint glass
The William Jones
Classic Chunky Beef Pie
Mushy Peas
Cooper’s Pale Ale
375ml bottle
The William Playfair
Beef, Bacon and Mushroom Pie
Mushy Peas
James Squire ‘Nine Tales’ Amber Ale
568mL pint glass
The Florence Nightingale
Pork and Parsnip Pie
Chips and Salad
Magners Apple Cider
568mL bottle with glass of ice
The Albert Einstein
Chicken and Leek Pie
Chips and Salad
Tiefenbrunner Pinot Grigio
Alto Adige, Italy
The Srinivasa Ramanujan
Lentil Daal with Cauliflower Pie
Chips and Salad
TBC
The Eugene Benilov
Irish Stew with Lamb Pie
Mushy Peas
TBC (Caffrey’s Irish Ale?)
The Lu Chao
Steak and Guinness Pie
Mushy Peas
Guinness Irish Stout
568mL pint glass
The Sir Isaac Newton
Apple and Cinnamon Pie
TBC Cream and Ice-cream
TBC Dessert wine
$xx.00 -OR- $xx.00 with drink
A Brief History of Pi Day[1]:
Recognised as the inventor of Pi Day, American physicist Larry Shaw first celebrated Pi Day on March 14, 1988 at
the San Francisco Exploratorium. On this day, university staff and public marched around one of the venue’s
circular spaces and then continued to consume fruit pies in celebration of the occasion. The idea of Pi Day comes
from the 3/14 date (using the American mm/dd notation) and 3.14 are the first three significant figures of the
number π.
So why are we running Pi Day on July 22? As Archimedes discovered (overleaf), 22/7 is a common approximation
of the irrational and transcendental number π. We hope to continue to run this event twice each year from now
into the future.
Archimedes of Syracuse[2] (Greek Mathematician, Physicist, Inventor and Astronomer, approx. 287-212BC)
Archimedes was able to use infinitesimals in a way that is similar to modern integral calculus. Using the method of
exhaustion, Archimedes concluded that the value of π is between 223/71 (approx. 3.1408) and 22/7 (approx.
3.1429). He also discovered the area of a circle is equal to π multiplied by the square of the circle’s radius (A = πr2)
and later the volume of a sphere (V = 4/3πr3). We matched Archimedes to our Seafood Pie because of his purported
Heat Ray, which – as legend has it – incinerated enemy ships during the Siege of Syracuse.
Mādhava of Sañgamāgrama[3] (Indian Mathematician and Astronomer, approx. 1350-1425)
Mādhava developed the infinite power series expansion of π, now known as the Mādhava-Leibniz series. Using the
first 21 terms of the series (and a revolutionary correction term) and the he obtained a value of π correct to 11
decimal places. We matched Mādhava to our Beef Korma Pie because of their common south Asian heritage.
Sir Isaac Newton[4] (English Physicist, Mathematician, Astronomer, and Natural Philosopher, 1642-1727)
Considered by some to be most influential scientist ever, Newton also used an infinite series to compute π to 15
digits. Whilst not a record for the time, he later wrote “I am ashamed to tell you to how many figures I carried these
computations”. We matched Newton to our Apple Pie because of his famous epiphany involving an apple falling
from a tree that is said to have led him to the formulation of Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation.
William Jones[5] (Welsh Mathematician, 1675-1749)
Most noted for his proposal for the use of the symbol ‘π’ to represent the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its
diameter, Jones was a close friend of Sir Isaac Newton and Sir Edmond Halley. We matched Jones to our Classic Beef
Pie because of its iconic symbolism in Australian culture and cuisine.
William Playfair[6] (Scottish Engineer and Political Economist, 1759-1823)
Widely recognised as the inventor of statistical graphics, Playfair invented four types of diagrams: The line graph, the
bar chart, the circle graph and our beloved pie chart. We matched Playfair to our Bacon and Mushroom Pie because
the trade-balance time-series chart published in his Commercial and Political Atlas, 1786 vaguely resembles a slice of
streaky bacon.
Florence Nightingale[7] (English Nurse and Statistician, 1820-1910)
A true pioneer in the visual presentation of information, Nightingale took Playfair’s pie chart and developed what is
now known as the polar area diagram. Sectors are of equal angles and differ in how far each sector extends from the
centre of the circle. We matched Nightingale to our Pork Pie because of their common English heritage.
Albert Einstein[8] (German Theoretical Physicist, 1879-1955)
Whilst Einstein had little to do with the history of π, he was coincidentally born on March 14: The official date for Pi
Day (see The History of Pi Day, overleaf). Einstein is best known for his Special Theory of Relativity which had many
counter-intuitive consequences across many fields of science. We matched Einstein to our Chicken Pie because
(negating all paradoxes) he possessed the theoretical knowledge to witness which came first: The chicken or the egg.
Srinivasa Ramanujan[9] (Indian Mathematician and Autodidact, 1887-1920)
Working in isolation in India, Ramanujan produced many unique and innovative series for computing the value of π.
He was said to be a natural genius by English mathematician G.H. Hardy, in the same league as Euler and Gauss. We
matched Ramanujan to our Lentil Daal Pie because of their common South Asian heritage.
Eugene Benilov[10] (Russian/Irish Mathematician, approx. 1960-present day)
Everyone knows that pie and beer are made for each-other right? But have you ever wondered why the bubbles in
some thick textured ale – such as Guinness and Kilkenny – appear to sink? Benilov led a team of mathematicians at
the University of Limerick to discover that the phenomenon is in fact due to the typical pint glass being narrow at the
base and wide at the top. We matched Benilov to our Irish Stew Pie because of their common Irish influence.
Lu Chao[11][12] (Chinese Chemistry Student, approx. 1985-present day)
Chao is the world record holder for reciting digits of π. He successfully recited the first 67,890 digits of π in 24 hours
and 4 minutes. He claimed to have memorised 100,000 digits and was planning on reciting 91,300 but made a
mistake at 67,891. He has no intention of beating his own record unless someone else does, but is writing a book on
the Chinese memory techniques that he used to achieve the record. We matched Chao to our Steak and Guinness Pie
because the record is officially recognised by Guinness World Records.
TODAY’S SPECIALS
TRIO OF DIPS
1. ____
2. ____
3. ____
SOUP OF THE DAY
____
BIG SANGA
____
FISH OF THE DAY
____
TODAY’S BEER BATTERED FISH
____
(served with chips and salad – see page 8 of our main menu)
TODAY’S FACEBOOK CHALLENGE
Order from today’s special pie menu (overleaf) and have a photo taken by
your waiter (some of whom are armed with a digital camera). You have until
July 31st to tag yourself on Facebook when the photos are uploaded. The
subject of our favourite photo will win a $50.00 gift voucher.
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[also]
Wikipedia, 2012, ‘Pi Day’, Retrieved 19/07/2012, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Shaw_(Pi)
Wikipedia, 2012, ‘Archimedes’, Retrieved 19/07/2012, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes
Wikipedia, 2012, ‘Mādhava of Sañgamāgrama’, Retrieved 19/07/2012,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%81dhava_of_Sa%C3%B1gam%C4%81grama
Wikipedia, 2012, ‘Isaac Newton’, Retrieved 19/07/2012, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton
Wikipedia, 2012, ‘William Jones (mathematician)’, Retrieved 19/07/2012,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jones_(mathematician)
Wikipedia, 2012, ‘William Playfair’, Retrieved 19/07/2012, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Playfair
Wikipedia, 2012, ‘Florence Nightingale’, Retrieved 19/07/2012,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Nightingale
Wikipedia, 2012, ‘Albert Einstein’, Retrieved 19/07/2012, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein
Wikipedia, 2012, ‘Srinivasa Ramanujan’, Retrieved 19/07/2012,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan
The Physics Arxiv Blog, 2012, ‘Irish Mathematicians Solve the Guinness Sinking Bubble Problem’, Retrieved
19/07/2012,
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/428020/irish-mathematicians-solve-the-guinness-sinking/
Wikipedia, 2012, ‘Lu Chao’, Retrieved 19/07/2012, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lu_Chao
Guinness World Records, 2005, ‘Most Pi Places Memorised’, Retrieved 19/07/2012,
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/1/most-pi-places-memorised
Wikipedia, 2012, ‘Pi’, Retrieved 19/07/2012, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi