I don’t know how this managed to sneak up on me without me realizing it, but today — 03-03-09 — is Square Root Day. Yes, that’s right, Square Root Day (3 is the square root of 9, for all you who didn’t catch it) and there are people out there celebrating.
As the Associated Press reports, Square Root Day occurs only nine times each century. The last Square Root Day was Feb. 2, 2004 (02-02-04) and the next one to come around will be April 4, 2016 (04-04-16).
Ron Gordon, a math teacher in Redwood City, Calif., is a big fan of Square Root Day: “These days are like calendar comets, you wait and wait and wait for them, then they brighten up your day — and poof — they’re gone.”
Gordon even started a contest to get people excited about Square Root Day. The winner gets, of course, $339 for having the biggest Square Root Day event. Gordon’s daughter even set up a Facebook page and hundreds of people had signed up with plans to celebrate in some way. Celebrations are as varied: Some cut root vegetables into squares, others make food in the shape of a square root symbol, according to AP.
It may be too late for you to get your big Square Root Day party planned for this year. But go ahead and mark your calendars now. You’ve got five years, one month and one day to plan for next time.
so i think this is super cool. michael and i were just talking about how friday is 3/6/9. also kinda fun. 🙂
Reminds me of an old math club cheer in high school: “E to the x! E to the x! Secant tangent cosine sine! Three point one four one five nine!”