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Branksome Hall News
Pi-Landers and p-Rates take memorization to next level for Pi Week
In these unpredictable times, the number Pi (Greek letter “π”) is a constant—a mathematical one, at least. Many people know it’s defined as the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, but far fewer can recite its endless decimal representation. The record for its memorization is somewhere around the 70,000th digit.
Here at Branksome Hall, we can congratulate Grade 9 student Angela who recited it to 201 digits on what has been known since 2019 as Pi Day, when the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) deemed it such on March 14, i.e. 3/14, or the date equivalent of the ratio.
“The 14th of March is also Albert Einstein’s birthday, so all together it’s nothing short of a mathematician’s delight,” says Edith Louie, Instructional Leader Mathematics, who spearheaded a ‘Pi Week’ of events at Branksome, which also typically involve eating pie.
In second place was Grade 7 student Lillian, with 152 perfect digits, seen here in a video, for which she gears up with a star athlete’s concentration. And in third place was Grade 12 student Dalia, with 105 digits.
Congratulations to all students who participated, and thanks to our Pi-Landers (Senior School) and π-Rates, i.e. Pi-rates (Middle School) Math Club Heads for organizing the Pi Week events.
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LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We wish to acknowledge this land on which Branksome operates. For thousands of years, it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous peoples from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work and go to school on this land.
Setting the new standard for girls' education everywhere takes collective action. From all of us.
