‘What The Child does every March 14’

It’s been quite a while since she wowed the math classes at Stuyvesant High School with her ability to recite pi to more than 400 places. But The Child still keeps her pi oar in, so to speak, by reciting pi to one hundred places every March 14. Which is still no mean feat.

Concentration is key. She says she imagines pictures. Or something

See, March 14 is Pi Day, when math nerds celebrate the one and only true magic number: π. Pi is 3.14 — get it? March 14 — a mathematical constant, never-ending, the circumference-to-diameter ratio of a circle.

But, math nerd or no, it’s still fun to watch her do her Pi Thing. He she was, just this morning:

Yes, braggety-brag brag brag, The Child has a knack for Pi reciting. She was so good at it at Stuy that the math department suspended the competition while she was student there — and just had her go around to the math classes and demonstrate.

The Child with an honor she received from Stuyvesant HS a few years ago: The Golden Pegleg. I kid you not.

Then, when she was a math student at Harvard, she routinely won the Pi Day contest at Adams House. My favorite is the year she “did” pi to just enough places to beat her closest competitor — no more, no less; a virtual model of pi efficiency.

Of course I have written about The Child and her Pi Track Record before, most recently in my story “Pi Are Round.” Feel free to check it out when you’re done watching those pi videos. (There’s a terrible Dad Joke in it.)

High School Me. I didn’t know pi from cake

Hey, I take it back. I’m rather an expert at pie myself, though my accomplishments tend to run toward apple and pumpkin.

There are plenty of people who wish MY pies were infinite

Well, I guess that’s enough bragging for one post. I’ll end by sharing yet another photo of Her Childness, this time not tackling pi — but enjoying a recent engagement party.

If I can’t have her Pi Recitation abilities, could I please just have that coat?

New York City. Pi Day. March 2023