Pi Day, VoiceXML And Albert Einstein 117
Eve Andersson writes: "Happy Pi Day to all. Out here in Boston, ArsDigitans are celebrating in
style with what is believed to be the longest Pi bead chain in the world -- 5000 digits, all strung by hand by people passionate about Pi. On a seemingly unrelated note, I've recently published an
ArsDigita Systems Journal article on VoiceXML: letting people talk to your HTTP server through the telephone.
In addition to a tutorial and reusable source code, you'll find a
Pi Reciter that you can access through the telephone. Just in time for Pi Day!" Reader Gyrate pipes in as well with the thought that "some people might be interested in knowing that today is Albert Einstein's birthday."
Re:Pi equals 2! (Score:2)
Might want to rethink your theory
Re:If you can't remember much of Pi: (Score:1)
The point? (Score:1)
as seen in my sig (Score:1)
Re:Pi equals 2! (Score:1)
Still dude...it just seems wrong....
Memorizing pi (Score:2)
Re:late (Score:1)
Wow! (Score:1)
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Re:Limerick in honor of Einstein's birthday (Score:4)
Learn pi to 31 digits! (Score:2)
In rhymes unapt, the great
Immortal Syracusan, rivalled nevermore
Who, in his wondrous lore
Passed on before
Left men his guidance
How to circles mensurate.
Re:learn pi (Score:2)
The number of characters in each word corresponds to a base-10 digit of pi, and the comma even serves to mark the decimal place. If nine digits of precision isn't enough to calculate pretty much whatever you want, you might as well look it up anyway...
(Oh, I get it -- I thought your .sig was a pi-mnemonic device, no wonder I was confused... :)
Pi Day in Europe? (Score:1)
(think about it.)
The real advantage of the metric system... (Score:1)
In fact, this reminds of Fahrenheit degrees. (flamewar not intended, but looks inevitable :-) How can someone define 32 as the 'zero point'? OK, I
admit perhaps the F scale was not originally based on water, but as the
temperatures most often refer to weather, the freezing of water would be
the best reference - the difference between positive and negative temp is
obvious in nature.
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Self-Referential Story (Score:1)
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Re:It's all a lie! (Score:1)
In the year 4004 BC, as calculated by the Irish theologian, Archbishop Usher, (1581-1656), Bishop of Dublin.
http://www.google.com/search?q=anno+mundi+usher
Re:The point? (Score:2)
Because it's there.
Pi just seems to hold a fascination for many people -- partially because it seems to show up in just about every scientific discipline (except maybe computer science, where we ignore all numbers that aren't powers of two), and because it has resisted all attempts of mathematicians to determine its exact value or discover any sort of pattern.
I think scientists, just like anybody else, like a little challenge, even if it has no practical use. And it's a whole lot safer than climbing mountains.
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Re:If you can't remember much of Pi: (Score:1)
pi = 3.14159265353...
pi day is 3/14 or 3.14; which is already a pi approximation.
I say we celebrate piday on April/(1/(1-1/3+1/5-1/7+...))th. Which would be a true pi day.
actually, March 14159265353...th is just as 'practical'
FYI, the infinite series (pi = 4(1/(1-1/3+1/5-1/7+...)) was discovered by Leibniz and was the first infite series representing pi found. hurray for leibniz)
minus
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minusthink [Code poet or super hero? (you decide)]
Re:The real advantage of the metric system... (Score:1)
Actually, IIRC, body temperature was originally supposed to be 96 degrees, not 100. This was convenient because it meant that you had temperature differences of 32 and 64 degrees, so you could make a scale for your thermometer by bisecting the distances 5 or 6 times in succession. So Farenheit makes sense because it's defined in binary!
Hmmm, crackpot or possible? (Score:1)
Now, take the equator as your 'circle', with the origin at the pole. Now, your psuedo-radius is Pi*r/2, and your circumference is 2*Pi*r, where r is the sphere radius. Thus the ratio of circumference/'radius' is 4, for a circle this large...for 'larger' circles, up to a radius of Pi*r, the circumference shrinks to 0. For smaller circles, the circle shrinks to a more flat surface, and 'pi' approaches 3.14etc as radius approaches 0.
Thus, on a sphere (constant curvature) pi ranges from 'flat surface pi' (3.1415etc) to 4 to 0... Thus, if one took the literal interpretation of said biblical passage, what would that say about the curvature of space in our universe? Interesting math problem for rec.sci.math, I guess...
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IANASRP- I am not a self-referential phrase
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Re:Hmmm, crackpot or possible? (Score:2)
Re:Meanwhile in a world where phone#s begin with 1 (Score:1)
Re:LISP is 41 (Score:1)
What will those beads *really* be used for (Score:2)
late (Score:1)
happy b-day, al!
hey, shouldn't this have been under the "science" catagory? it'd get the birthday boy's pic right there.
Boston? Where? (Score:2)
Is it accessible to the public? Which Ars Digita office is it at? The web site has no pertinent information I could see.
Unsettling MOTD at my ISP.
Re:TellMe ads (Score:2)
Re:Pi, a mysterious and dangerous number. (Score:1)
Re:Excuse me (Score:1)
Re:If you can't remember much of Pi: (Score:2)
VXML (Score:2)
If you want to take your app commercial, you can purchase time on an 800 number. Number are available in the Bay Area, New Jersey and Chicago. These are cool guys -- I met them when they "left stealth mode" at the Pulver Voice Over Network developers conference in January.
Re:Pi related information (Score:1)
How to get pi over the phone (Score:1)
Try out the Pi Reciter!
Call 1-800-555-TELL.
At the main menu, speak the word "Extensions."
Enter extension 58874.
Re:If you can't remember much of Pi: (Score:1)
Only a matter of time. (Score:1)
Re:Pi equals 2! (Score:1)
It's all a lie! (Score:4)
He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits high. It took a line ofthirty cubits to measure around it. -- 1 Kings 7:23
Friends, I'd like to take a moment or two to discuss with you the biggest whopper in the whole liberal lie of mathematics. The liberals like to tell us that pi is what they call a "transcendental number." This is, of course, shameless liberal jargon that has no meaning whatsoever. They are teaching our children that pi goes on and on forever without repeating itself, and that it is not representable by any polynomial with integer coefficients. This, my friends, represents only the latest in a long string of liberal lies meant to undermine God and his Creation.
The true value of pi is exactly three, as evidence by the Scripture quote above. It is universally agreed by all honest mathematicians that there is no evidence for a transcendental pi. Not one iota. Friends, you and I know that the Bible is the wholly inerrant word of God, and that the liberals are barking up the wrong tree. That doesn't stop them from spreading their socialist "transcendental number" propaganda. See, the liberals like stuff like this. They like anything that makes mankind think of itself as small and insignificant. This makes it easier for them to control the minds of our children. After all, why not listen to some liberal, if you are not capable of fully representing a single number?
This is an out-and-out lie.
The whole mathematical system has been invented by communists so that they can gain a foothold in decent society. Along with this comes the damnable "Metric" system, which was invented in the socialist Mecca of Europe. The liberals want us all to use this "Metric" system. They want to force us into conformity so that they can run our lives. They tried it once in the 1970s
Really, friends, the only unit of measure that we need is the cubit. This is a Biblical, Godly unit of measure that can be used for everything that the socialist Metric system is supposed to be used for. You can say "The Johnson baby was one tenth of a cubit long" or "It is 78.8 quintillion cubits to Alpha Centauri" (though the latter is a lie, of course; the stars are simply fixed points on a celestial sphere that lies somewhere beyond our planet Earth, which is the center of the Universe.) My swimming pool holds forty cubic cubits of water.
So let's fight the fight, friends. Let's fight transcendental numbers. Let's fight the Metric system. Let's wage a war against the liberals that intend to enslave our minds through obfuscated mathematics and anti-God systems of measurement. Write your congressman and school board and insist that they use books that teach that pi == 3 and transcendental numbers don't exist. We can do it, my friends. We can do it if we all stick together.
The Good Reverend
I'm different, just like everybody else. [michris.com]
Dumb and Dumber (Score:2)
you go, . . . and TOTALLY redeem yourself!"
Re:Memorizing pi (Score:2)
And, how do you know the bartender was not just pulling your leg and reciting digits at random? Hmm?
Re:It's all a lie! (Score:2)
When the above was written, the average curvature of space was higher. Now that more time has passed since the Big Bang (the moment of infinite curvature), the value of $\pi$ is a bit higher. You may wonder how such a measurable effect can emerge in just a few thousand years, but remember the big bang was about 6000 years ago, as has been scientifically calculated from Biblical data.
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Apparently moderators (Score:1)
Square Root of 2 (Score:1)
Like your sig... (Score:2)
Re: crackpot :-) (Score:1)
On a side note, in Greenland pi is only about 3.0 because everything shrinks in the cold ;-)
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What pi means to me (Score:1)
Physicists say pi is about 3.14.
Engineers say pi is... about 3... choose your life!
Meanwhile in a world where phone#s begin with 1... (Score:2)
***
Ben Filchim opened his eyes, startled by the sound. It took only seconds for him to realize that it was his telephone. But it wasn't until he picked up the phone -- looking at his watch, wondering who would call at this ungodly hour -- that he realized why.
A strange melody floated over the phone. Singing. Drunken engineering students, it sounded like. The third, tonic, the fourth, tonic, the fifth, the ninth. He'd heard it the year before, about a month after he moved to Missouri. Probably a dozen times before he simply took the phone off the hook, then figured it must be over, then was called by several members of the Modern Disciples of Pythagoras and asked random personal questions -- his birthday, his height, annual income, and if his middle name happened to be Archimedes. No? Any siblings with that name? Then he'd had several more phone calls with the melody. The second, the sixths, the fifth, the third, the fifth. There had also been several solo guitar performances, and an adaptation that might have been done by Vince Clarke.
Finally, he had gotten one of the Mystics of Fermat to tell him what this was about. His phone number. His bloody phone number. The Fermatian seemed hurt when he laughed out loud after a stunned silence. After a short pause, Ben hung up and laughed again. He took his phone off the hook, until he forgot, anyway, and then received the series of phone calls which he decided where the drunk engineering students. He went into work early that day.
So it was March 14th again. Apparently every year was going to be the same. Ben paused to miss spring break before reaching over and unplugging the phone. Maybe he'd put something special on his answering machine in the morning... but in the meanwhile, he was going to get some sleep.
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learn pi (Score:5)
i was angry:1 with:2 my:4 friend - i told:3 4 wrath:5, 4 5 did end.
Memorization (Score:1)
3.14159
You then make a story out of that...for example:
The three of us went to pick up one of our other friends. Then there were four. We went to see that one movie. The theater's open from five to nine.
Just grab the Project Gutenberg text of Pi to some rediculous number of places and write a quick script to convert the numbers to words (1 -> one) and then include the words in a story. Then just memorize the story. [Later thought...] Actually, that might not be such a quick script.[/Later thought...]
On the other hand, you may find it easier to remember if you make up the story yourself.
Oh, another thing, picture the stuff you're memorizing as you make it up.
kickin' science like no one else can,
my dick is twice as long as my attention span.
Voice XML (Score:2)
It is very easy to program, and well, just plain fun. The possibilities are endless. You should all try it?
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Re:Memorizing pi (Score:1)
The Humpage Pi Page [bris.ac.uk]
with CalcPi, a rather quick program that renders Pi out to as many places as you want.
Well, I like it!
- Oliver
"exp(i*Pi)+1=0" - Euler
Tell-Me service from Canada (Score:1)
1-408-678-0032 if you don't mind the long distance charges. Its cool to hear pi to 9000 digits (doh!).
Have fun.
I remember (Score:1)
Re:Infocom games through VoiceXML? (Score:2)
Re:Memorizing pi - I got 650... (Score:1)
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Artificial intelligence or natural stupidity?
Limerick in honor of Einstein's birthday (Score:5)
Who could travel much faster than light
She departed one day
In a relative way
And arrived on the previous night.
speaking of pi.... (Score:1)
what the? [mikegallay.com]
Other interesting things on this day (Score:1)
It is also the day that Microsoft went public (1986) and the Power Mac was introduced (1994).
Pi, a mysterious and dangerous number. (Score:3)
But what of the human cost? Think of the people who have been driven mad by Pi. Gaerdoluxa, and ancient Greek philosopher King, became entranced by the ratio, and committed suicide after unsuccesfully trying to square the circle for the 3141st time.
Hyppomineon, a Roman, did go on a killing rampage after he failed to convert Pi into Roman numerals.
I think the legacy of Pi is clear. Like many women, it hypnotises right thinking men, sucks them in and chews them up, before spitting out a wreck. Pi is a feminine number because it is like a cunt - it encloses and enfolds it's beholder, before destroying him.
I think our duty is clear. We must ban Pi completely, and declare that Pi=4. It is the only way to protect the innocent masses.
Think of the children. Think of the millions slaughtered by bombs whose trajectories were calculated using - yes - Pi.
All these lives could be saved. Lets abolish Pi today.
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Re:Memorizing pi- carry it in your wallet! (Score:1)
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Artificial intelligence or natural stupidity?
Re:Excuse me (Score:1)
Re:Voice XML (Score:1)
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Re:Hmmm, crackpot or possible? (Score:1)
-Ciaran
March 14th? or April 31st? (Score:1)
But anyways, It's interesting that the post was actually posted at 3-14, 1:59. Just makes it that much more special, I suppose.
And while were on the subject of "date numerology" I seem to remember some time back in 1987 where the time and date matched up in some kind of whacky sequence -- something like: October 9th 1987, at 6:54 pm.
-ben
http://www.mitwebcam.com [mitwebcam.com]
Re:TellMe ads (Score:1)
Pi equals 2! (Score:1)
Didn't come up with the idea myself, I got it from the math program I am in. And I know that the image is a b0rken link, the real one is here [nbci.com] (take out the space)
Re:TellMe ads (Score:1)
Re:late (Score:1)
Re:If you can't remember much of Pi: (Score:1)
In the US there is no such date, since we go by mm/dd/yyyy. Of course, this means that if Einstein's European birthday were used (he was after all European), it would be written 14/3, which of course wouldn't be Pi day. Ironic huh?
PI (Score:1)
Infocom games through VoiceXML? (Score:3)
Walter H. Trent "Muad'Dib"
Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe, IMHO
Re:Pi for everybody. (Score:1)
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If Bill Gates had a nickel for every time Windows crashed...
Re:Tell-Me service from Canada (Score:1)
The Best Part of the Article (Score:1)
Re:Nice mnemonic (Score:1)
Pi visually (Score:1)
http://www.engr.mun.ca/~holden/pi.html [engr.mun.ca]
That's a lot of Pi.
Re:Memorizing pi (Score:1)
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EFF Member #11254
Re:Pi for everybody. (Score:1)
That I'm a karma-whore who saw an article about Pi, and ran over to dmoz to find an 'interesting' or 'informative' URL. :)
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he he.. pi car (Score:1)
Two for two, "baby"! (Score:2)
I can hardly wait until 2040 when the Nobel Prizes start rolling in...
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Hold on a second moderators... (Score:1)
Also, the metric system has one signifigant advantage, it's base units of measure are derived from the size of the earth, and the weight and volume of pure water. Traditional units have the benefit of having lots of prime factors. But that's about it.
Re:If you can't remember much of Pi: (Score:2)
Look carefully at the names on the list. One of them is Simon Plouffe. Here's his web page: http://www.lacim.uqam.ca/plouffe/. Yep, with Bailey (who I just saw on a *random* mailing list) and Borwein, he created an algorithm to compute arbitrary hexadecimal digits of pi (without computing the previous digits). I wonder if there's anyone else famous on there.
Re:The real advantage of the metric system... (Score:2)
Except that the Fahrenheit system is based on the freezing point of water. Zero degrees F is the lowest temperature at which water is liquid when saturated with sea salt.
And human body temperature is 100 degrees warmer than 0. Now that we have better and more exact calibration methods we've defined the scale with freezing and boiling of distilled water at one atmosphere with 32 degrees and 212 degrees being defined as 180 degrees apart (180 degrees means the exact opposite in plane geometry). The recalibration has resulted in human body temperaure being inconveniently adjusted to only 99 degrees F.
-Brian@all.your.base.mesaurements.are.belong.to. na ture
Re:Infocom games through VoiceXML? (Score:1)
Walter H. Trent "Muad'Dib"
Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe, IMHO
Re:VXML (Score:1)
Re:Tell-Me service from Canada (Score:2)
The 1-800 number doesn't work in Canada or I suspect overseas.
So maybe we should call it American Pi.
DARN YOU!! (Score:1)
Moderate him DOWN!!
Re:DARN YOU!! (Score:1)
Yech!
Menu for Pi Day (Score:1)
BBQ Chicken Wings Pie
Nacho Cheese and Chips Pie
Main Course
Blackbird Pie
Meat Pie(Pasty)
Pot Pie(Beef or Chicken)
Quiche(for the vegetarians)
Dessert(Nerdy, of course!)
Boston Cream Pie
Mom's Apple Pie
Cherry Pie
Lemon Meringue Pie
Chocolate Cream Pie
Key Lime Pie
Any other pie you can think of...
Pi Day - Pi search upgrade (Score:1)
http://www.angio.net/pi/piquery [angio.net]
-Dave
If you can't remember much of Pi: (Score:5)
The guy who runs that page, Martin Rebas, offers other number treats [chalmers.se], including the -2 club [chalmers.se] for people who can't even remember 2 digits of pi.
Pi for everybody. (Score:3)
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Oh, Boy! We get to /. the phone system! (Score:1)
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Dave: Open the pod bay doors, HAL.
HAL: Screw you, Dave!
Re:Pi, a mysterious and dangerous number. (Score:1)
All these lives could be saved. Lets abolish Pi today.
Abolish pie? How un-american!
<ducks the 3,141 flames about pi not belonging to just America>
Re:learn pi (Score:2)
Go there now... [photo.net]
(Do it. Do it now. It is what Einstein's Brain [echonyc.com] would want you to do!)
WebWord.com [webword.com] -- Industrial Strength Usability
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Hmmm, crackpot or possible? (Score:2)
I hope that's clearer now :-)
Slashdot via VoiceXML (Score:2)
And if you scroll to the bottom of the TellMe Extensions site, you'll see their slogan: "Hack the Phone". I'm waiting until someone creates an interface to a Kevin Mitnick [freekevin.com] site. *g* There's something wonderfully self-referential about that....
You're right, it's ambiguous.... (Score:2)
The rhyme came from one of Martin Gardner's most excellent Scientific American Books of Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions. I'll have to look and see what spelling he used.
Happy Birthday Dear Albert (Score:2)
-drin
TellMe ads (Score:2)
stringing together numbers of pi... (Score:2)