Tuesday, March 03, 2009

It's Square Root Day -- Let Joy Be Unconfined!

3/3/09: Math fans to celebrate Square Root Day: "Dust off the slide rules and recharge the calculators. Square Root Day is upon us.

The math-buffs' holiday, which only occurs nine times each century, falls on Tuesday — 3/3/09 (for the mathematically challenged, three is the square root of nine).

'These days are like calendar comets, you wait and wait and wait for them, then they brighten up your day — and poof — they're gone,' said Ron Gordon, a Redwood City teacher who started a contest meant to get people excited about the event.

The winner gets, of course, $339 for having the biggest Square Root Day event.

Gordon's daughter even set up a Facebook page — one of a half-dozen or so dedicated to the holiday — and hundreds of people had signed up with plans to celebrate in some way. Celebrations are as varied: Some cut root vegetables into squares, others make food in the shape of a square root symbol."

3 comments:

Benjie said...

Thanks for the heads up, Bill. I'll be sure to add this one to my collection of useless holidays.

Anonymous said...

I bet you still have your old high school slide rule, Bill-

John D

mybillcrider said...

I wish I still had that slide rule. I passed it along to my sister, but even if I'd kept it, Jim Corbett would have talked me out of it.