Pi day. March fourteenth. Why is this pi day? March fourteenth or 3-14 has the same numbers as the first three digits of the irrational number that relates the diameter and circumference of a circle. When was I first told this? When I was in fifth grade, my mother came into the kitchen to inform me and my brother that we are celebrating pi day. As a child in elementary school who has no idea that pi is anything other than the delicious dessert we devour every Thanksgiving, I was definitely puzzled. However, my mother had anticipated this. We proceeded in taking measurements of every circular object in our house, all the while my brother and I becoming increasingly amazed at the similar ratio between the diameter and the circumference. How could the circular cookie cutter and the circle at the bottom of the cylinder of tinker toys have the same ratio when measured around and across? This was definitely the question of the day.
Of course, after this quick activity I was not instantly a mathematician, but was definitely ahead of the game freshman year in geometry and most importantly I gained a new interest in both math and science. Having two parents with degrees in engineering helped me to realize at a young age that the world around us does not just work because of magic, but that everything has some sort of principle behind it. I decided to study engineering not because I was “following in my parents’ footsteps” or apparently “being guaranteed a job straight out of college” but because I have an interest to understand why things work and the reasoning behind everyday phenomena. Nerdy? Absolutely. I do not want to live in a world of equations, situations, technology, structures, and necessities that I do not understand. This is why I do what I do. This is why I am an engineer at UCLA. Sure, the classes are hard and I may have to miss the Cal basketball game to study for a dynamics test the next day, but it is definitely worth it. The endeavor and constant struggle to understand even the simplest essentials of life is thrilling. It may not be as in the moment as being courtside when the Bruins win by two at the buzzer, but after everything is all said and done, I will know what safety requirements and internal forces are in the beams that support the house I live in and why the circuits and piping are set up in the crucial and specific patterns that they are. I will be able to understand the math and science of the world and hopefully somewhere along the way gain some understanding to the rest.
Comments