2015 Pi Day Contest Winners

MoMath hosted three contests in the weeks leading up to Pi Day: one for pi-themed songs (based on an original or pre-existing tune), one for pi-themed limericks, and one for “pi-kus” — three-line poems where the first line contains three syllables or sounds, the second 14, and the third 15. The winners of these contests were announced at 3:14 pm on 3/14/15.

Thanks to everyone who participated, and congratulations to the winners!

 

Pi-ku Contest Winners

Janice Taylor, Adult Winner (tie)

“Ode to Pi”
Humble pi!
Of Egypt antiquity borne, by Archimedes reared;
Three-point-one-four, plus many more; constant, irrational…pi.

 

Donald Smith, Adult Winner (tie)

Consider
The places where pi appears; circles are only the start.
Go read Euler, and then think about lots of infinite sums.

 

Cindy Campoverde, High School Winner (tie)

Pi is fun.
Pi is infinite as well as irrational and long.
Pi was found out by the old and ancient Babylonians.

 

Christina Kohl, High School Winner (tie)

A sole pi.
A rescuer for completing geometry problems.
A constant number of more than hundred thousand digits.

 

Alejandra Robins, Middle School Winner 

I am Pi
I go on infinitely, am used to measure circles
and have been around since the time of the ancient Egyptians

 

Pi-merick Contest Winners

Anita Draper, Adult Winner

Divide C by d, and you’ll spy
Amazing irrational pi.
Like the square root of 2,
Pi has nothing to do
But trail digits across the sky.

3.14’s an approximation,
22/7 a desecration—
No common fraction
Can capture pi’s action:
Pi spurns mundane limitation.

From pi’s head to vanishing feet,
No patterns of digits repeat.
Though technology’s widgets
Crank trillions of digits,
Pi won’t be made tidy or neat.

Pi’s decimal places fill
As computers grind and spill;
Circle back: C to d
Contains infinity,
An endless mathematical thrill.

 

Sarah Murphy, High School Winner

There once was a boy named Kalai
Who thought i was better than pi.
But his teacher said,
“Have you lost your head?”
He sat down and let out a sigh.

“Do you know all that pi can do?
3 point 1 4 1 5 9 2.
With circles it’s used,
Are you yet amused?
It can equal one-eighty, too!”

Kalai saw the power of pi,
Which is very different from i.
For i isn’t real,
Which isn’t ideal.
Pi is useful, he couldn’t lie!

 

Eric Ross, Honorable Mention

Pi is very long and fun
Its numbers are never done
Its popularity is national
And also irrational
Pi has definitely won.

A Greek guy helped prove Pi is true
And others from other lands too
But it wasn’t Horatio
Who uncovered the ratio
But a dude who invented a screw.

Archimedes would always astound
The value of Pi is what he found
He dug in his heels
He used it on wheels
To determine their distance around.

Pi is a constant cool
They showed it to me at school
We memorize more
Than 3.14
Because Pi is such a powerful tool.

I don’t want to make a big scene
But this year is 2015
And Pi day’s full date
Is mathematically great
Five digits of Pi you can glean (3/14/15).

Song Lyric Contest Winners

Larry Lesser, “American Pi,” Adult Winner (tie)

Melissa Wrolstad, “You Make the World Round,” Adult Winner (tie)

Jose Martinez, “Pi Rap,” High School Winner

Chris Smith’s class, “PiMCA,” Middle School Winner

Yash Sriram, “Pi, A Mystical Number,” Elementary School Winner