Discovering Pi

By: Marissa Beck, Ella Beidler, and Kaitlyn Grubbs

One day, Pi walked into his classroom. He had to sit alone every day because the
numbers in his class didn't like him and even called him weird! The only one who ever talked to
him was his teacher, Miss Delta. She would talk to him every day and try to encourage him to
interact with the other students in the class. He always said no, but today was different.

Pi looked around and saw the other numbers talking. One, Two, and Three were arguing
over division. Six was yelling at Seven because he ate Nine. Eight was complaining to Four
about how he was a horrible factor and Five and Zero were simplifying radicals. Pi always knew
he was different from the other numbers, he wanted to join the Rational Numbers, but they never
accepted him into their group. He didnt know why they treated him so cruel, he just wanted to
fit in.

I'm gonna talk to them today! Pi thought to himself. He got up and walked over to a table
where Three, Five, and Six were sitting. He went up to them and ask "Can I join your group?"
The numbers turned around and gave him an annoying stare.
"You can't join our group," Three protested "You're irrational!"
"Why are you talking to us?" Six questioned him.
I just want to be your friend, Pi replied shyly.
Six just rolled her eyes at him. We dont want to be friends with you, youre different
than us. All of us have our true values discovered, you dont.
Pi started to become more upset but didnt give up trying. Thats ok though, you guys
arent the same either.

Three joined in now, We are a constant and you're not. We dont want to talk to you, just
go away because were not changing our minds.

Obeying what Three had said, Pi went back to his seat with a pool of tears in his eyes. He
sat there alone and fought back the tears that threatened to leave his eyes because he knew he
couldnt cry in front of all of them.
Miss Delta had come over when she saw how sad Pi was. Whats wrong? She asked
him as she took a seat across the table.
Pi let out a long sigh. The other numbers dont like me and I just dont understand why!
Ive tried to talk to them before, but theyre just mean to me and tell me to go away. What am I
doing wrong?

As Pi went on, Miss Delta continued to nod until he had finished. She took a moment
before answering his question, "Pi you are important in the world, just like those other numbers.
You even have your own holiday! You are infinite and do not have any patterns or repetitions,
you're special!" She continued. Theyre just being stubborn, Pi. Just wait and youll see that
theyll warm up to you soon. Okay? How about you try talking to them again. Then, she got up
and went back to her desk to grade math papers.
Pi sat in his seat for a long time, trying to think of ways he could get the other numbers to
talk to him. He thought that he should talk to them like he was already friends with them.
Perhaps he could just go up and politely ask if they wanted to solve addition problems with him.
After more thought, Pi decided that the other numbers probably would not like him, despite how
hard he tried to be friends with them.

The school day was almost over and Pi still hadnt tried to talk to any of the other
numbers yet. He couldnt figure out if it would be better to stay quiet or to try and talk to them
again. Either way, he thought that they would just ignore or ridicule him. As he watched the
clock, he decided that he wanted to try one last time before the school day was over. Maybe
trying one last time today would result in something good, but he would not know until he tries.

With a deep breath, Pi got up and went to sit across from Two. Hi Two, he said.
With a slight jump, Two looked up from her math book that she was reading. Oh, hi.
What are you reading about? Pi had to hide his hands under the table so that Two
wouldnt notice how badly they were shaking. She still had yet to insult him, the others wouldnt
have even bothered to look up.

Two shrugged. Just circles. Pi nodded his head and tried to think of a response but
didnt have one. Did you know, Two began to read from her book, that youre transcendental
and irrational. Youre irrational because you cant be written as a rational simple fraction, but
youre transcendental because youre not algebraic, youre not a non-constant polynomial
equation with rational coefficients. Even though 22/7 is close, its still not a rational simple
fraction.

It took a second for Pi to figure out what she had just told him. Nobody in Pis class had
ever talked to him that much in his whole life. This was very exciting for him. I know! Isnt it
so interesting?
It really is! Two grinned at him. I dont really know why everyone else is so mean to
you, I think youre pretty cool.
Thank you!
The bell rang and the two had to part ways to go home. The day had started off gloomy,
but turned out to be pretty good! Pi was almost running home, excited to share the news with his
mom that someone had actually been nice and talked to him today.

The next day, Pi hurried to math class and sat down in his seat. Miss Delta stood in front
of the class, "Alright, today we are going to learn about circles.

Everyone sighed. "Circles aren't important," Nine said. "They don't count in
mathematics!
Miss. Delta replied, "They may not be a big part of Algebra, but they are important in the
subject of Geometry, which is another type of math."
Miss. Delta continued the lesson, "We will be learning about the area and circumference
of circles today!" Pi was eager to learn about circles, he knew this was a chance to get the
numbers to talk to him. "A key factor of doing this is Pi represents the ratio of a circles
circumference to its diameter. It can be also said as, the number of times a circles diameter will
fit around its circumference."

At that moment, the numbers realized that math is more than just Algebra. They began to
appreciate the other signs and symbols in math, especially Pi. One said, "Wow Pi, you really are
important in math, we really need you!" The numbers learned to respect other forms of math and
they began to treat Pi nicely. Pi and the numbers became best friends and they lived hapPIly ever
after,
The End