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 2026)

 

 

On the International Day of Mathematics, March 14th a.k.a Pi Day, 19 number enthusiasts in Christchurch gathered at the University of Canterbury to try to calculate as many digits of pi as we could using only pencils and paper - carrying on from previous sessions (read the full summary here.)


The method was designed by Dr Ross Atkins, who has devised a way to split the calculation of pi to allow multiple people to be simultaneously doing calculations towards the final result, so participants could contribute as much or as little as they liked through smaller long division and addition calculations.


After some changes to the algorithm since our last attempt there was some lost ground to be made up, but we more than made up for it during this session with a total of 70 digits of pi calculated by the end of it - we look forward to increasing this number again at our next pi calculation session in July.

 

Twelve participants of the March 2026 pi by hand calculation event pose for a group photo in front of some pages of calculations on a white table.