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MATHEMATICAL WEBQUEST

ALL ABOUT PI

!In!this!webquest,!students!will!answer!20!questions!about!the!number!pi.!!Students!should!have!access!to!the!internet!to!complete!this!activity.!!Answer!key!is!included.!!Background!graphic!on!title!page!by!Dancing!Crayon!Designs!!http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/DancingDCrayonDDesigns!!I!have!also!included!a!2!versions!of!a!word!search!about!pi.!!Answer!keys!are!included.!!Here!are!several!websites!that!you!may!wish!to!reference!in!your!search!for!more!information!about!pi!and!Pi!Day.!!http://www.piday.org!!http://facts.randomhistory.com/2009/07/03_pi.html!!https://www.exploratorium.edu/pi/!!http://www.wikihow.com/CelebrateDPiDDay!!http://www.math.rutgers.edu/~cherlin/History/Papers2000/wilson.html!!http://wwwDhistory.mcs.stDand.ac.uk/HistTopics/Pi_through_the_ages.html!!!Make!a!pi!day!greeting!card:!!http://www.123greetings.com/events/pi_day/!!!Here!is!a!link!to!a!youtube!video!where,!in!3!minutes!and!14!seconds,!a!domino!spiral!is!built!and!knocked!down.!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp9zLbIE8zo!!!If!you!intend!to!serve!a!snack!on!Pi!Day,!check!out!my!Pi!Day!Placemat.!!http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/PiDDayDPlacematDandDActivitiesD909274!!!!!!!!! !

THE NUMBER PI WEBQUEST

1. Pi is a letter of the Greek alphabet. Alpha is the first letter of this alphabet, what letter is pi?

2. Pi is an important symbol in mathematics. What does it look like?

3. What type of number is pi?

4. Write the number pi correct to 5 decimal places.

5. Which state tried to pass a law about the value of pi in 1897?

6. How many digits of pi did Hiroyuki Goto recite from memory in 1995?

7. For fun, go to the website http://www.facade.com/legacy/amiinpi/ and find your birthdate in pi. Which digits contain your birthday?

8. In which episode of Star Trek did Spock ask a computer to calculate the last digit of pi? (Check out a clip of this episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H20cKjz-bjw )

9. Name two movies or books in which the number pi plays an important part in the story.

10. Pi is the ratio of what to what?

π! π!

11. Name a famous person with the initials AE who has a birthday on Pi Day.

12. Give an example of a fraction that is sometimes used to approximate pi.

13. Give an example of a geometric formula that contains pi. What is the formula used for?

14. Find a funny joke about pi.

15. What is the Feynman point?

16. Check out this website which displays the first million digits of pi. http://www.piday.org/million/ Count and find the 50th digit of pi (include the 3 as the first digit).

17. Look at this website http://www.piday.org/2009/u-s-congress-passes-pi-day/ to find out the date that the US House of Representatives passed a bill in support of Pi Day.

18. Name the person who first used the symbol π for pi in 1706.

19. What shape did Archimedes use to approximate pi?

20. What was the name of the computer that, in 1949, calculated an amazing 2037 digits of pi in 70 hours?

WORD SEARCH #1

WORD SEARCH #2