Why is pi ubiquitous

If we take the length of a natural river from start to finish and divide it by the straight path from start to finish, we get what is known as the Sinuocity. Although, it is a daunting task to measure the Sinuocity of all-natural rivers in the planet, a study of rivers in Norway has shown this to be true!

There you have it! Perhaps by the next years event, you would have discovered many more instances where it appears magically. Till then — Happy Pi day! Pankaj Jha is the founder of makeageek.

Having been educated in three continents- US, UK and India, he works closely with schools, teachers and students to help them achieve their very best. Views expressed here are personal. Share Via.

By Pankaj Jha. But pi's ubiquity goes beyond math. The number crops up in the natural world, too. It appears everywhere there's a circle, of course, such as the disk of the sun, the spiral of the DNA double helix, the pupil of the eye, the concentric rings that travel outward from splashes in ponds. Pi also appears in the physics that describes waves, such as ripples of light and sound. It even enters into the equation that defines how precisely we can know the state of the universe, known as Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.

Finally, pi emerges in the shapes of rivers. A river's windiness is determined by its "meandering ratio," or the ratio of the river's actual length to the distance from its source to its mouth as the crow flies. John Hughes John Hughes And electricity is related to amber. Still, if you don't find that particular view of things enlightening, and prefer to see everything through angles or amber!

Different strokes, etc. Albert Albert 8, 1 1 gold badge 16 16 silver badges 47 47 bronze badges. Botond Botond Upcoming Events. Featured on Meta. Now live: A fully responsive profile. The unofficial elections nomination post. Related 4. Hot Network Questions. Mathematics Stack Exchange works best with JavaScript enabled.

Accept all cookies Customize settings.