Mathateca: Logic Puzzle Workshops
Mathateca: Calculate Pi by Hand

Come Along to our Pi Calculation-a-thon!

Calling one-and-all to attempt to calculate as many digits of pi as we can, using nothing but paper and pencil.

On Saturday 25th July, number enthusiasts in Christchurch are gathering at the Canterbury Workers Educational Association to try to calculate as many digits of pi as we can by hand - carrying on from previous sessions (read Pi Day's summary here.) The date 25/7 was selected as this is the closest weekend day to 22/7, a good approximation of pi.

 

If you can do long division (or are willing to learn) then you have the required skills to participate. There will be plenty of us available to remind volunteers how to do long division, and many more to be running checks on the calculation as it continues. Don't bring your calculators, this is a purely human computation!

 

Drop in anytime between 12 and 4:30pm and we'll show you how to get involved.

Event details:


📅  Noon - 4:30pm, Saturday 25th July

 

📍 CWEA Hall
Canterbury Workers Educational Association
59 Gloucester Street

Any questions, or to register interest in participating, send an email to ross@mathateca.nz, otherwise just come along on the day.

Watch the below video to see the event that inspired this monumental calculation endeavour.

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Past pi Calculation events:

Calculating Pi By Hand (Pi Day 2025)

 

On the 14th and 15th of March 2025, we celebrated the mathematical constant pi by attempting to calculate as many of its decimal digits as possible using only pencil and paper. March 14 is celebrated as the International Day of Mathematics a.k.a Pi Day, because 3.14 are the first 3 digits of Archimedes’ pi.

 

Similar to previous events (2024-09-29 and 2024-08-17), this was a joint event with the University of Canterbury’s maths society (MathSoc), and was hosted at the university. The event was pitched at adult volunteers who want to contribute to a common mathematical goal. We also enjoyed a collection of pie-related baked goods which were distributed for all to eat.

 

The mastermind of this event was Mathateca board member Ross Atkins, who designed the method of distributing the pi calculation in such a way that many people can be calculating simultaneously. The method is also never-ending, in the sense that it can be continued at future events (without the need to start again) and the digits of π will continue to be produced.

 

Overall the event was a monumental success with 22 volunteers contributing to a total of 60* digits of pi.

 

Read the full report including an explanation of the calculation performed from Ross [PDF].

 

A crowd of smiling pi day volunteers stand in front of their calculated digits of pi written on a whiteboard.

 


*Though the first 60 digits were calculated, owing to an error in addition two of them were incorrect.