3.14159265....

It's funny now, but there was a time in my life when Pi was as commonplace to me as just about any other word I used. As a concept, it was much more familiar to me than worrying about the gas or electric bill, that's for sure.

Pi. It came up all the time. For the better part of, what?, 8 years of my life? Pi.

Pi = 3.1416

So what happened? Why do I almost never even think about Pi these days? Why does Pi not come up in my daily discussions - unless I'm helping with the homework - as it did all the time when I was 20? I don't think I could have imagined a life without Pi when I was a student, yet it has hardly featured post-graduation. When I'm talking with friends or people I work with nobody ever says, "You forgot to multiply it by Pi" or some such. Never.

So, even though it's equally stupid and geeky, I love that today's Pi Day because it's March 14 on the calendar. Get it? Well, of course you do, if you write the dates as Americans do - 3-14. Europeans will never have their own Pi Day, but I figure those who want to can join in today's "celebration".

Now, what's the formula for the volume of a cone?