Happy National Square Root Day!

I'm definitely NOT a math geek, but I am a sucker for quirky things, and as a future teacher I think it's important to embrace all parts of academia so that I can hopefully inspire the future rocket scientists and engineers of the world. :)

http://weblog.infoworld.com/robertxcringely/archives/2009/03/happy_square_ro.html
Happy Square Root Day, math geeks

You may not be aware of it, but tomorrow's a national holiday for the pocket-protector-and-slide-rule crowd. But why settle for just one numerically inspired celebration each year? Cringely goes in for a little arithmetic therapy.

TAGS: Blinded by science, Geek Love

Tomorrow may just be another stupid bloody Tuesday to you and me, but to the mathematically inclined it's something a little more special: Square Root Day. On this glorious date, the numbers 03.03.09 form a perfect square.

I don't know about you, but I'm planning to celebrate by watching a "SpongeBob SquarePants" marathon while playing with my slide rule. Remember, if you miss tomorrow's SRD, there won't be another one until April 4, 2016, and after that not until May 5, 2025.

Square Root Day is one of several numerically inspired holidays -- some real, others totally irrational.

Pi day has been celebrated every March 14 (3.14) since 1988, though it's sure to a bit more special seven years from now on 3.14.16. Suggested activities: Rent the film "Pi" while eating pizza pie, getting pie-eyed, and reading the Seattle Post Intelligencer (if it's still around).

If you miss Pi Day, you'll get a second chance to party on July 22, which is Pi Approximation Day (22/7). This is also the birthday of French mathematician Gaspard de Prony, who in 1792 devised a system powered by 90 human "computers" -- most of them former servants and hairdressers thrown out of work by the French Revolution -- to build a vast table of logarithms. The project took decades and was never completed. Talk about your government bailouts.

So much for the real holidays. To give the greeting cards industry a boost, I suggest adding these additional math days.

Power of One Day: November 11, 2011. On 11.11.11, at precisely 11:11:11 a.m., something mystical will happen, though exactly what is uncertain. At the very least, there's a guy in Cleveland who's been planning a party for this date for over 30 years. So maybe you can wrangle an invitation.

Prime Numbers Day. Sure, there are occasional prime number days in odd-numbered years -- like May 3, 2007 -- but given the importance of Prime Numbers to the geek lifestyle, I think it merits an annual celebration. I propose doing it on the 359th day of the year, which is the largest prime number in the Gregorian Calendar. Of course, there is a small conflict with another holiday around that time of year known as Christmas, which also occurs on the 359th day of the year (or Christmas Eve during leap years).

Watchmen Day: 03.06.09. This is the day "The Watchmen" movie opens [video], which aside from the factors-of-three date has nothing to do with math -- but it's sure to be the biggest gathering of geeks this side of Comic-Con.

Zager and Evans Day: July 12. This Sixties folk duo recorded the song, "In the year 2525" [video], which hit number one on the Billboard charts on July 12, 1969. Aside from being deliciously cheesy, it has more numbers in it than any other pop song I can think of. (Runners up: "One" by Three Dog Night, or perhaps "867-5309" by Tommy Tutone.) Come on, everyone, sing along.