Pop Culture

In Carl Sagan's novel Contact, p played a key role in the story. The novel suggested that there was a message buried deep within the digits of p placed there by the creator of the universe. This part of the story was omitted from the film adaptation of the novel. Also, the first 6 digits of pi are Ellie's office safe combination (314159). (Wikipedia)

Spock on Star Trek used pi to bring down an evil computer by commanding it to calculate to the last digit of pi.

MIT emails acceptance letters on Pi Day. Also, the MIT Cheer is: Cosine, secant, tangent, sine, 3.14159!

The Georgia Institute of Technology cheer also includes "3.14159!"

Cool number to have for your…
…Phone: (3) 1.415.926.5358
Once own by SLAC – a scientific research center
…Address: Savannah, GA zip code is 31415.
Maybe someone has 31415-9265
…Social Security Number: 314-15-9265
This would be pdentity thief
…Birthday: Monday 3.14 at 1:59:26
Or the granddaddy of them all: 3.14.1592 at 6:53 am (10 digits)
Or in 4 years, 3.14.15 at 9:26:53 (10 digits)

On Pi Day 2010, the Google doodle banner celebrated pi.

In the popular comic strip Dilbert, the hanger-hook on the back of Dilbert's shirt looks like the pi symbol (p).

In the episode "Take Out" (2007) of TV show Numb3rs, pi is referenced at least twice. 1) When Charlie meets Mildred in the garden, she's reading a book called "Life of Pi". 2) When Charlie explains his idea using the refrigerator example, he counts various kinds of foods, and ends his list with a pie (a homophone of pi). Also, the number of the episode itself is 3.14. (IMDb)

Pi is the secret code in Alfred Hitchcock's Torn Curtain and in The Net, starring Sandra Bullock. (Blatner)

MMM…floor p! – Homer Simpson (The Simpsons)

The television series Twin Peaks frequently displayed the wonders of p.

The TV show "The Big Bang Theory" has an episode titled "The Einstein Approximation" and numbered 3.14.

The national average for regular gasoline prices on February 14, 2011 was $3.14. (Consumer Reports)

During the famed O.J. Simpson trial, there were arguments between defense attorney Robert Blasier and an FBI agent about the actual value of pi, seemingly to reveal flaws in the FBI agent's intellectual acumen. (Blatner)

A Givenchy men's cologne named Pi is marketed as highlighting the sexual appeal of intelligent and visionary men. (Basenotes.com)

On November 7, 2005, alternative musician Kate Bush released the album Aerial. The album contains the song "p" whose lyrics consist principally of Bush singing the digits of p to music, beginning with "3.14". Unfortunately, she's missing an entire string of numbers…998 6280348 25 34511706 7982148086 513 2823.

Darren Aronofsky's film Pi deals with a theorist who is driven mad by numbers.

In the fictional movie, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, pi is the answer to the combination that will allow the Tablet of Akh-man-Ra to open the gates to the Underworld.

One slice of a 14" Domino's Extravaganza Feast Pizza with Classic Hand-Tossed Crust has 3.14 grams of Ash.

Pi in Baseball Matt Cain – 2010 San Francisco Giants pitcher – 3.14 ERA
Norm Brown – Oakland Athletics pitcher – career ERA 3.14
Baseball player Pi (Pius) Schwert – catcher, bats right, throws right
The primary pi spots 3:14:15926 on the map are all located in the oceans.

Pi Jokes and Pi-ems

If you ask a scientist what pi equals, he'll tell you:
"Pi equals 3.14159."
If you ask a mathematician what pi equals, he'll tell you:
"Pi equals the circumference of a circle divided by its diameter."
If you ask an engineer what pi equals, he'll tell you:
"Pi? Well, it's about 3, but we'll call it 4 just to be safe."
If you ask a kid what pi is, he'll ask if he can have ice cream with it! (Google)

What is the volume of a pizza of thickness a and radius z?
Answer: pi*z*z*a (Weisstein)

I PREFER PI – Palindrome

What do you get when you take the moon and divide its circumference by its diameter? Answer: Pi in the Sky

What do you get when you take the circumference of your jack-o-lantern and divide it by its diameter? Answer: Pumpkin Pie (Evans)

Did you ever hear about the largest knight of Arthur's Round Table? His name was "Sir Cumference". He got so big eating too much pi.

Endless
    There once was a number named pi
    Who was quite an irrational guy
    With digits non-ending
    The next always pending
    This decimal form just wouldn't die!

Piom
    The number pi's a ratio pal
    Whose fame is international
    C to diameter
    Endless parameter,
   To me it's all irrational
       Paul Doherty (Exploratorium)

Next to pi is not 3
    'Tis a favorite project of mine
    A new value of pi to assign
    I would fix it at 3
    For it's simpler, you see,
    Than 3 point 1 4 1 5 9
       Markcarter.me.uk/math.html