Lemon Meringue Pi Day

lemon meringue pie painting by Lori Lynn

Lemon Meringue Pi Day

March 14th. If you are both a math nerd and a foodie, like me, this is an especially fun day where math meets pie!

π = 3.14

Pi, the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, is an infinite irrational number that never repeats… ever… so eventually you can find your own phone number, birthday, anniversary, and any numerical significance in pi, that’s cool.

To celebrate this Pi Day, I am not baking an apple pie, nor a pizza pie, nor egg pie or quiche!

I am painting pie! Lemon Meringue. Acrylic on canvas.

My virtual lemon meringue pie pan has a diameter of  9 1/2 inches. What is the circumference you ask?

That is where my handy little mysterious irrational number comes in. The circumference is the diameter multiplied by pi.

C = dπ

9.5 X 3.141592653 = 29.845130209

So approximately 30″ around. Awesome. Thanks π!

Happy Pi Day, Everyone!

Pi Day Math for Cooks


First of all – Happy Pi Day!
If you are a math nerd, this is a fun day!
March 14 or 3.14…and I did not just admit to being a nerd?!?

What is pi?
It is the ratio of the circle’s circumference to its diameter.

So here, my lovely Le Creuset Enameled Cast-Iron Tarte Tatin pan has a diameter of 9 1/2 inches. What is the circumference you ask?
That is where my handy little mysterious irrational number comes in! The circumference is the diameter (as measured by my whimsical tape measure) multiplied by pi.
The circumference of my Le Creuset pan:
pi d = C
3.141592653589793238462643383279502884+ X 9.5 = 29.845130209+
About 30″ around.
OK, I am off to bake a 30″ circumference apple tarte tatin!
Did you enjoy some pie on Pi Day?

(Portions of this post were written for Pi Day 2008, as some things never change, and pi is one of them).