PennWest Edinboro to host local high school students for Pi Day celebration

Meadville Tribune, The Meadville Tribune, Pa.
·1 min read

Mar. 14—EDINBORO — Students and faculty at PennWest Edinboro will celebrate all things Pi — the mathematical constant commonly approximated as 3.14 — as part of National Pi Day being observed today.

From 9:30 a.m. to noon, hundreds of high school students from Erie and Crawford counties will participate in a plethora of Pi-related activities, contests and interactive lectures, including Pi trivia, Pi memorization and recitation, Tower of Hanoi game plus a Rubik's cube challenge and "Putting the Pi in Python."

Edinboro students and faculty members from PennWest's Department of Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics will offer sessions about pursuing careers in mathematics, actuarial science, statistics and data analytics.

"It's impressive how many digits of Pi that winners are able to recite," said Anne Quinn, professor of mathematics. "Past Rubik's Cube contests have yielded multiple winners who could solve the cube in less than a minute."

The event is made possible through the Education Improvement Tax Credit program, which is managed by the Edinboro University Foundation.

"We have welcomed local students to our campus in honor of Pi Day for more than a decade," Quinn said. "The events are fun for everyone, including those who already liked math and those who have now taken an interest."

Students from Cambridge Springs, Conneaut Area, Erie, General McLane, Iroquois, McDowell and Union City high schools will participate.