Conway's Game of Pi
March 12, 2016 3:43 AM   Subscribe

John Horton Conway, known for his Game of Life among numerous other mathematical contributions, is partnering with Pizza Hut to release three original math problems at 8 AM EDT this coming Pi Day (March 14th), "varying in level of difficulty from high school to Ph.D. level". The first person to respond to each question with the correct answer will win 3.14 years of free pizza.
posted by J.K. Seazer (38 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
Man, Pi Day has gotten so commercialized.
posted by Johnny Assay at 3:48 AM on March 12, 2016 [28 favorites]


I am stoked af for this. I had the privilege of meeting John Conway at Canada/USA Mathcamp (he used to be a regular guest, don't know if he still is though), and he knows a heck of a lot of digits of pi. I remember him describing his new project in pi memorization, which was to be able to recite any particular digit quickly without having to go through the whole thing in order. His mnemonic was to group digits by tens and associate each group with a chemical element. So if you asked him for the 243rd digit of pi, he'd go, "243, the 25th element is manganese, manganese is 2, 7, 1--it's 1."
posted by J.K. Seazer at 3:55 AM on March 12, 2016 [3 favorites]


42
posted by fairmettle at 4:08 AM on March 12, 2016


$\int_0^1 {x^4(1-x)^4 \over 1+x^2} \, dx$
posted by Wolfdog at 4:15 AM on March 12, 2016


“Pi may be irrational, but free pizza is anything but,” added Conway

I bet he just came up with that himself.
posted by Literaryhero at 5:00 AM on March 12, 2016 [3 favorites]


Man, Pi Day has gotten so commercialized.

I remember as a kid, when we'd all gather round the compass and protractor, with rulers and triangles hanging from the fireplace. And we'd all take turns reading from our old leather-bound copy of Euclid. Back then it was really about the spirit of geometry, you know? But now the stores start decorating as soon as the year rolls over. I mean, January isn't even really the Pi Day season, is it?
posted by leotrotsky at 5:09 AM on March 12, 2016 [29 favorites]


I checked to see if it was April 1.
posted by wittgenstein at 5:16 AM on March 12, 2016 [4 favorites]


π years of free pizza is good.
π years of Pizza Hut ‘pizza’, however, is worth roughly ε.
posted by scruss at 5:21 AM on March 12, 2016 [11 favorites]


'dropping the “e” '

I sort of doubt they are aware exactly how funny this is. well, Conway probably does.
posted by dorian at 5:27 AM on March 12, 2016 [2 favorites]


I wish April had 31 days, so normal day month year thinking people could have pi day.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 5:39 AM on March 12, 2016 [6 favorites]


Where will Pizza Hut be getting the pizza from?
posted by srboisvert at 5:55 AM on March 12, 2016 [14 favorites]


Omegad, I hope the mods aren't angling to circle the wagons, 'cos it's not a sin if this thread goes off at a tangent.
posted by Devonian at 5:57 AM on March 12, 2016 [14 favorites]


  normal day month year thinking people could have pi day.

We'll always have 22/7.
posted by scruss at 6:07 AM on March 12, 2016 [16 favorites]


I miss the old days when nerd culture was just me and the other guy in the physics lab who knew voltage response curves by heart for just about any of the component in the 1000 page electronics catalogue that you cared to ask about; before any person who'd watched a few episodes of Big Bang and had got a Buffy box set considered themselves a nerd; when being a nerd was about what you knew and made rather than the products you consumed. The commodification of the culture through "partnering" with a rubbish food chain Pizza store adds nothing. Fast food makes you stupid for goodness sake. Will the people who win the "prize" of 3.14 years of fatty pizza still be able to solve the problem after eating all that crap?
posted by drnick at 6:25 AM on March 12, 2016 [1 favorite]


Those puns are so old you're going to have to change your username to Silurian.
posted by leotrotsky at 6:26 AM on March 12, 2016 [2 favorites]


π years of free pizza is good.
π years of Pizza Hut ‘pizza’, however, is worth roughly ε.


No, it's worth exactly i.
posted by eriko at 6:43 AM on March 12, 2016 [1 favorite]


Three years of free Pizza Hut isn't even something I want, though. It sounds gross and bad for me, and the idea makes me feel kinda queasy.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 6:45 AM on March 12, 2016


Game of Life of Pi would have been more welcome. Survive 3.14 months in a life raft with a tiger that may very well be a manifestation of your basest nature to earn free pizza and a hospital stay in Peru. One family member invited for the first leg of the journey.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 6:45 AM on March 12, 2016 [6 favorites]


I miss the old days when nerd culture was just me and the other guy in the physics lab who knew voltage response curves by heart for just about any of the component in the 1000 page electronics catalogue that you cared to ask about; before any person who'd watched a few episodes of Big Bang and had got a Buffy box set considered themselves a nerd; when being a nerd was about what you knew and made rather than the products you consumed. The commodification of the culture through "partnering" with a rubbish food chain Pizza store adds nothing. Fast food makes you stupid for goodness sake. Will the people who win the "prize" of 3.14 years of fatty pizza still be able to solve the problem after eating all that crap?

I miss the old days when self-proclaimed nerds would know better than to cite the Daily Mail as scientific evidence.
posted by IjonTichy at 6:46 AM on March 12, 2016 [7 favorites]


Man, Pi Day has gotten so commercialized.

Things...

•_•)
( •_•)>⌐■-■
(⌐■_■)

Have come full circle
posted by JoeXIII007 at 6:47 AM on March 12, 2016 [17 favorites]


I'm happy to have something like Pi day commercialized. If it spreads interest in math and learning, sign me up, lets commercialize the hell out of it and get kids interesting in science and math and all things nerdy.
posted by Twain Device at 7:01 AM on March 12, 2016 [5 favorites]


Man, why isn't it 3.14 years of free Whole Foods? also, do you get the pizza as annuity or lump sum?
posted by oceanjesse at 7:30 AM on March 12, 2016


I guess Tau day would require giving away too much pizza.
posted by Obscure Reference at 7:32 AM on March 12, 2016 [3 favorites]


Dammit Abehammerb Lincoln, I came here specifically to make a Game of Life of Pi joke.
posted by hippybear at 7:38 AM on March 12, 2016 [2 favorites]


One family member invited for the first leg of the journey.

I see what you did there.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 7:39 AM on March 12, 2016


Also, the Pizza Hut PR blog is called "Hut Life." Which is so great.
posted by stevil at 7:48 AM on March 12, 2016 [2 favorites]


Related to the great J.H. Conway, I met him about 10 years ago at a math conference, where he passionately (and somewhat intoxicatedly) explained his creation of surreal numbers. I got to the talk a bit late, and they added a new row of chairs right up front, so I was basically sitting right in front of the guy. After the talk, he came down for pictures and handshakes. Since I was first in line, but having nothing to say, I offered to exchange conference name badges with him, and he happily agreed. So, a few dozen math fans got their picture taken with a famous mathematician wearing the name badge "Klausman: (Not Princeton) University". I keep his badge hung up as decoration in my office, and I often wonder how many people have looked at the badge around Conway's neck and thought "who the heck is Klausman?"
posted by klausman at 8:08 AM on March 12, 2016 [19 favorites]


I'm having a hard time coming up with anything clever to say even though it feels like there's a lot of material to work with, so I'll just note that I'm totally delighted that "let's get John Conway to blast out some fucken puzzles" is somehow where a pizza conglomerate's PR dart landed.
posted by cortex at 10:43 AM on March 12, 2016 [11 favorites]


I miss the days when other people didn't like the things that I like because the reasons that I like them all involve feeling of superiority rather than simple enjoyment
posted by beerperson at 10:50 AM on March 12, 2016 [4 favorites]


We'll always have 22/7.

Math Fun Fact: There is one fraction that does pi to six places: 355/113. If we were to assign it as day 355, it would usually be December 21.
posted by Brian B. at 11:02 AM on March 12, 2016 [2 favorites]


Math Fun Fact: There is one fraction that does pi to six places: 355/113. If we were to assign it as day 355, it would usually be December 21.

Moreover, this fraction can be expressed as

                    1
3 + --------------------
                          1
         7 +  --------------
                         16

and so 3/7/16 makes a better pi day than Pi Day.

(Pi Day also came a week early last year, because replacing 16 with 15 in that fraction yields 333/106, which is nearly as good an approximation. Both come from the continued fraction expansion of π.)
posted by egregious theorem at 1:10 PM on March 12, 2016 [2 favorites]


Will the people who win the "prize" of 3.14 years of fatty pizza still be able to solve the problem after eating all that crap?

The rules say it's $1600 of Pizza Hut gift cards, which they equate to 3.14 years' worth. Apparently the gift cards have a resale value of about 88% at the moment.
posted by Coventry at 3:06 PM on March 12, 2016


"We don't deliver to your address"

I guess its lucky I'm thick as pig shit.
posted by biffa at 3:12 PM on March 12, 2016


If we ballpark a large cheese at $11 and assume no delivery fees etc, that's about 145 pizzas, which over 3.14 years stretches to to 46 pizzas a year, or a bit less than one a week. So probably they're assuming one a week even for a cheaper pie, medium cheese or one topping ish. Which is simultaneously a hell of a lot more pizza hut, pro-rated per year, than I've ever eaten in any year of my life include my relatively pizza hut-heavy senior year of college, and yet also if I think of it as a challenge and/or windfall, just not really that much pizza.
posted by cortex at 3:20 PM on March 12, 2016 [2 favorites]


I'm starting to worry that Terence McKenna might have been right. Or perhaps one or more of us have been transported into an alternate parallel dimension.
posted by ob1quixote at 3:54 PM on March 12, 2016


I solved one of the Mole Day problems oh god please help me they're everywhere.
posted by maryr at 7:36 AM on March 13, 2016 [2 favorites]


This years Vi Hart Pi rant is relatively laid back.
posted by asok at 7:51 AM on March 14, 2016 [1 favorite]


klausman,
I love your anecdote, particularly because they had to add a new row of chairs in the front for a talk about surreal numbers. You were sitting in the infinitesimal row.
posted by likethemagician at 8:35 AM on March 14, 2016 [2 favorites]


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