Actual Advice On How To Study For Engineering Courses from A First Year Student

10 Ways to Celebrate Pi Day with Us on March 14

On March 14, we will join people across the U.S. as they celebrate an icon of nerd culture: the number pi. 

So well known and beloved is pi, also written π or 3.14, that it has a national holiday named in its honor. And it’s not just for mathematicians and rocket scientists. National Pi Day is widely celebrated among students, teachers and science fans, too. Read on to find out what makes pi so special, how it’s used to explore space and how you can join the celebration with resources from our collection.

1—Remind me, what is pi?

Pi, also written π, is the Swiss Army knife of numbers. No matter how big or small a circle – from the size of our universe all the way down to an atom or smaller – the ratio of a circle’s circumference (the distance around it) to its diameter (the distance across it) is always equal to pi. Most commonly, pi is used to answer questions about anything circular or spherical, so it comes in handy especially when you’re dealing with space exploration.

2—How much pi do you need?

For simplicity, pi is often rounded to 3.14, but its digits go on forever and don’t appear to have any repeating patterns. While people have made it a challenge to memorize record-breaking digits of pi or create computer programs to calculate them, you really don’t need that many digits for most calculations – even at NASA. Here’s one of our engineers on how many decimals of pi you need.

3—Officially official.

Pi pops up in everything from rocket-science-level math to the stuff you learn in elementary school, so it’s gained a sort of cult following. On March 14 (or 3/14 in U.S. date format) in 1988, a physicist at the San Francisco Exploratorium held what is thought to be the first official Pi Day celebration, which smartly included the consumption of fruit pies. Math teachers quickly realized the potential benefits of teaching students about pi while they ate pie, and it all caught on so much that in 2009, the U.S. Congress officially declared March 14 National Pi Day. Here’s how to turn your celebration into a teachable moment.

4—Pi helps us explore space!

Space is full of circular and spherical features, and to explore them, engineers at NASA build spacecraft that make elliptical orbits and guzzle fuel from cylindrical fuel tanks, and measure distances on circular wheels. Beyond measurements and space travel, pi is used to find out what planets are made of and how deep alien oceans are, and to study newly discovered worlds. In other words, pi goes a long way at NASA.

5—Not just for rocket scientists.

No Pi Day is complete without a little problem solving. Even the math-averse will find something to love about this illustrated math challenge that features real questions scientists and engineers must answer to explore and study space – like how to determine the size of a distant planet you can’t actually see. Four new problems are added to the challenge each year and answers are released the day after Pi Day.

6—Teachers rejoice.

For teachers, the question is not whether to celebrate Pi Day, but how to celebrate it. (And how much pie is too much? Answer: The limit does not exist.) Luckily, our Education Office has an online catalog for teachers with all 20 of its “Pi in the Sky” math challenge questions for grades 4-12. Each lesson includes a description of the real-world science and engineering behind the problem, an illustrated handout and answer key, and a list of applicable Common Core Math and Next Generation Science Standards.

7—How Do We celebrate?

In a way, we celebrate Pi Day every day by using pi to explore space. But in our free time, we’ve been known to make and eat space-themed pies, too! Share your own nerdy celebrations with us here.

8—A pop-culture icon.

The fascination with pi, as well its popularity and accessibility have made it a go-to math reference in books, movies and television. Ellie, the protagonist in Carl Sagan’s book “Contact,” finds a hidden message from aliens in the digits of pi. In the original “Star Trek” series, Spock commanded an alien entity that had taken over the computer to compute pi to the last digit – an impossible task given that the digits of pi are infinite. And writers of “The Simpsons,” a show known for referencing math, created an episode in which Apu claims to know pi to 40,000 digits and proves it by stating that the 40,000th digit is 1.

9—A numbers game.

Calculating record digits of pi has been a pastime of mathematicians for millennia. Until the 1900s, these calculations were done by hand and reached records in the 500s. Once computers came onto the scene, that number jumped into the thousands, millions and now trillions. Scientist and pi enthusiast Peter Trueb holds the current record – 22,459,157,718,361 digits – which took his homemade computer 105 days of around-the-clock number crunching to achieve. The record for the other favorite pastime of pi enthusiasts, memorizing digits of pi, stands at 70,030.

10—Time to throw in the tau?

As passionate as people are about pi, there are some who believe things would be a whole lot better if we replaced pi with a number called tau, which is equal to 2π or 6.28. Because many formulas call for 2π, tau-enthusiasts say tau would provide a more elegant and efficient way to express those formulas. Every year on Pi Day, a small debate ensues. While we won’t take sides, we will say that pi is more widely used at NASA because it has applications far beyond geometry, where 2π is found most often. Perhaps most important, though, for pi- and pie-lovers alike is there’s no delicious homonym for tau.

Enjoy the full version of this article HERE. 

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

MBTI types as things in the sky

ENFJ: The rising sun on a summer morning.

ENFP: A constellation pointed out by friends star gazing.

ENTJ: A jet breaking the sound barrier.

ENTP: A super nova, releasing all of its star power.

ESFJ: A shooting star, holding on to a wish.

ESFP: A meteor shower passing over a summer camping party.

ESTJ: A satellite, precisely orbiting the earth.

ESTP: A distant planet waiting to be explored.

INFJ: The Northern Lights, dancing in the sky.

INFP: The Moon, both its illuminated side and its dark side.

INTJ: A cumulonimbus, majestically brewing from the storm inside.

INTP: A black hole, both mysterious and mesmerizing.

ISFJ: A rainbow after a spring shower.

ISFP: A colorful hot air balloon flying at dawn.

ISTJ: The International Space Station looking over an hurricane on planet earth.

ISTP: A parachute, deploying gracefully and falling freely.

The Types as GIFs in Black and White

For @in-a-mellow-tone :) Tell me if that’s what you were expecting or if I’m beside the point!

ENTP:

INTP:

INTJ:

ENTJ:

INFP:

ENFP:

ENFJ:

INFJ:

ISTJ:

ISFP:

ESTJ:

ISFJ:

ESFJ:

ISTP:

ESTP:

ESFP:

Rose-Colored Jupiter via NASA http://ift.tt/2FESHeN

Do you know how to tell if an ENTJ likes you? (Romantically or platonically?)

ENTJs tend to tolerate certain people if they feel there is some benefit for them if they do so, but if you observe for some time you will start to notice little details that show whether the ENTJ is comfortable with the person and focusing on them, or if they are somewhere else wondering when they will be able to escape.

When they like you platonically:

Attention. A pattern I have noticed in most Extroverted types, attention is outside, looking for something new, exciting or interesting. In this case, ENTJs have a tendency towards moving quicky from person to person if they feel there is something more important being discussed in another conversation, so if they keep paying attention and bringing up new topics of conversation, what I understand is that they are interested in speaking with you, rather that trying to get information from you or something like that.

Time. It’s no secret how obssesed with efficiency ENTJs can be, so if they choose to spend time with you when they could be perfectly fine minding their own business, they like you.

Silliness. It may sound strange, but ENTJ are big goofs at heart. Around people they like they drop their bussiness-like façade and start cracking jokes, doing random things and making puns. A lot of puns. 

They share their feelings. VERY IMPORTANT. I happened to be around when one of my closests friends was feeling really down, and because she trusted me, she told me what was going on inside her mind. ENTJs do not open up easily, even though you talk to them everyday, they might still consider you an acquaintance. But if they let you in on their feelings, thoughts and ideas, there’s no doubt they like you. They generally dislike showing weakness, so if you get to see them (When they are sad, for example), that’s another sign they like you.

I have met some ENTJs who, due to their inferior Fi, denied their feelings for some time before accepting them, or even pushed aside the thought completely because it was not “the right time” to focus on things like that. This is however an unhealthy ENTJ behaviour, and what I mean by this is that it might take some time for the ENTJ to realise what they are feeling, mainly because they will question whether this feelings make sense or not, so sometimes the signs they like you might be confusing as their feelings are also confusing to them.

When they like you romantically:

Sweetness. A secret no ENTJ would like you to know is how sweet and nice they are when they truly like someone. They smile a lot, say nice things and compliment the person and believe me, if you see an ENTJ acting like that, you won’t even believe they are ENTJ to begin with. 

Help. ENTJs have a tendency to believe everybody should be able to handle their situation by themselves, but when they like someone, they make the exception of even taking care of the problem themselves. For example, if you have trouble with your homework, normal ENTJ reaction would be to wait for you to figure it out, help you with some things they consider difficult, and leave you alone. But if the ENTJ goes out of their way to help you they will stay by your side until you finish, let you see their homework, or spend much more time explaining something to you.

Stands by you. They also do it when they like you in general, but when they like you romantically, it is much more fierce. They won’t hesitate if they need to take measures to make sure someone they like is okay. For example, my ENTJ friend will make sarcastic remarks when someone tries to pick on his INFP cousin, or straight up tell them to back off. I figure they do the same with people they like.

Time. But in a different way from above. They are much more flexible, for example they will change their schedule to suit you and make time for the both of you to spend together, instead of waiting until you both have time.

I hope this helped. Thanks for the question :)

you are still growing on the days when you feel empty.

juansendizon (via shareaquote)

“South Pacific Ocean" by | BeJamin