Students and teaching staff of the SUSU Institute of Natural Sciences and Mathematics celebrated the International Day of Mathematics, or the Pi (π) Day, on March 14th.
“There used to be such a tradition at the Pedagogical Institute once,” shared organizer of the event, Associate Professor of the Institute of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Tatiana Karpeta. “Famous scientists of Chelyabinsk participated in this event. We continue to celebrate this wonderful spring holiday at SUSU. Here we invited not only students from our department, but every student of our university who loves mathematics.”
One of the classrooms of the 3Б university building was turned into a café called “Under the Integral”. Tea and sweets had to be paid for with tokens, which were given for successful solving of problems: in algebra, combinatorics, or mathematical analysis. Everyone could choose problems according to their abilities, but for Olympiad-level problems more tokens were given. For three tokens, a ticket was given to an evening movie show “Proof” at the department.
The teachers also received awards - certificates in nominations, where winners were chosen by students (voting had been held in advance). Almost all certificates were awarded to the staff members of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Programming of the SUSU Institute of Natural Sciences and Mathematics: senior lecturer Tatiana Nozhkina received the “All-Seeing Eye” certificate, Associate Professor Tatiana Karpeta received the “Keeper of Deadlines” certificate, senior lecturer Anton Sheludko was recognized as the “Master of Memes”, Associate Professor Andrey Demidov was recognized as the “Guru of Coursework”. The legendary Professor of the Department of Mathematical Analysis and Mathematics Education Vladimir Zalyapin was awarded the title of “Unsurpassed Orator” by the students. The certificates were presented by the Director of the SUSU Institute of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Alena Zamyshlyaeva.
The number π is one of the most famous mathematical constants, an irrational number. Ancient people determined it by solving the problem of squaring the circle. Now π can be defined not only through geometric concepts, but, for example, using a series: a sum with an infinite number of summands.
It is impossible to write the number π as a familiar decimal fraction 3.1415926..., it would have to be continued indefinitely. At present, 100 trillion digits of the number π after the decimal point have been written.
The date of celebrating International Day of Mathematics was chosen for a reason: 3/14 - the third month, the fourteenth day.