I changed my mind about the title when I found about e.
Now, I consider myself to be fairly well read as far as English Literature goes (vs the general population). I've read all of the "required" high school reading- Shakespeare, various classic and modern poets, and a few plays, as well as having read a substantial amount of both fiction and nonfiction outside of the classroom. Granted, the "classroom" list might be a bit old, but so are the classics of literature. Math, though... that's another story.
For those of us (and I include myself in this list) who are relatively clueless about the "higher" functions of math, I'd like to introduce a new player- new to me, at least.
Last year, I made a big deal about pi Day, as it was a centennial pi Day (3.14.15). This year is not a special e Day, but 2018 will be (2.7.18).
I should back up here a bit and mention that math and I did not get along well in high school. In fact, if a subject could have been personified, math would have been my scholastic bully... for all four years of high school- even though I had math subjects for only two years. My first year, I studied geometry, and did so poorly at it I nearly went to summer school.
I survived that, though, and had algebra as a sophomore. Although in algebra, I didn't get close to being banned to summer school (remedial education), I never really quite "got it". At this point in life, I was so turned off by math that I dropped a philosophy class later in college when I figured out that the class was actually (sort of) math: symbolic logic.
Flash forward a few decades to today. I'm integrating much of what I used to hate and misunderstand into everyday life. My current challenge is to embrace what was formerly despised.
Which brings me to today. It's a tradition where I work for 3rd shift to produce a short email detailing what was done overnight. These emails are fairly short and to the point. Somewhere in the past year I started adding factoids about the current month at the bottom of each email. To be honest, I'm not sure how many folks in my department read these emails, but I try to keep them at least a little interesting. That's how I learned about "e" Day.
So, let me explain the little I know about e. This is wikipedia's definition. As I've mentioned, my mathematical foundation is shaky at best, but I think I finally have an understanding of irrational numbers! That's my explanation. :) Another e-day note: Many celebrate e-Day as Euler’s constant day on February 7 (2/7) in the month/day date format. It is a day where people recognize the significance of the number e, which is approximately 2.71828. Although this is the most commonly recognized holiday for e-Day, there are other worldwide events that are observed that have nothing to do with the e number constant.
Euro day occurred in European countries that simultaneously adopted the Euro on January 1, 2002. In New Zealand, eDay is a day where people can get rid of e-waste or old electronics such as computers and old appliances, so they can be recycled rather than being placed in a landfill. Engineer’s Day is observed in Paducah, Kentucky on February 21 where many have an egg drop contest, create edible cars and tape people to walls. Eday is also an island in Northern Scotland.
And, for those who are interested in sports in the United States, e Day coincides with Superbowl Sunday. I could care less, as the Packers will not be there to lose, nor will the Bears be there to win.
That's all for now. We will be celebrating e Day with pączki, purchased from Central Continental Bakery, a lovely European-style bakery in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. These pączki are incredible- stepping into this bakery is like stepping into Europe!As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.
No comments:
Post a Comment