LEE Ryan and Angel Greener get a mouthful of delish pie. PHOTO SUPPLIED
ŌTOROHANGA College made maths fun by celebrating pi day on March 14 – with a pie eating contest and even pi-kelets… and pi-themed mufti.
March 14 is not only International Pi Day, but also famous scientist Einstein’s birthday, college deputy principal of curriculum Stoffel Wilken said.
The day began with students being treated to perfectly round pi-kelets as they arrived at college.
During interval, the four college houses were represented by junior and senior students in a pie-eating showdown.
They also competed in a pi-themed mathematics competition in the college hall.
Points were awarded to winning houses in all the competitions and, at the end of the day, Kedgley House rose to the top.
“They were rewarded with a delicious, mathematics-themed chocolate cake,” Stoffel said.
There was also a maths quiz for the junior students earlier in the week.
Overall, the event was designed to show students that “maths doesn’t have to be boring.”
Stoffel said the subject helped students become good critical thinkers, and understand much of the world around them.”
“You can use it in everyday life. Just doing simple things like walking down the aisle at Countdown and being able to add up the groceries before you get to the pay point. And things like budgeting.”
Even kids who just wanted to go farming had many reasons to care about maths, he said.
“There will be a lot of maths involved in farming, something as simple as calculating how much wood you need for a new fence.”
Pi, or 3.14 rounded, is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter; the number appears in many mathematical formulae.
