However, I don’t work for authors trying to sell the next best fiction novel, who might share in this obsession for perfection.
Instead I am surrounded by mathematically inclined folks, including both the authors and customers. This is the complete opposite of my creative minded co-workers, who in college tried to avoid math courses.
Yet, we all connect with variations of the dork factor.
I fully came to realize this on Pi Day. What is Pi Day you may ask?
Well, it’s not the celebration of pizza or the success of Don McLean.
It’s in celebration of pi, the mathematical constant, 3.14159 (and as the cartoon expresses, most normal people, including us editors, know it to be 3.14).
At work, we e-mail icons of celebratory pi like the image below to our authors and the VP springs for pizza and someone bakes a good old apple pie for all the employees. The technology division decorates the halls with posters of the symbol. There is all out recognition for the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.
I thought perhaps this was a specific holiday that the mathematical division of the textbook publishing world would have interest in; but last year days before the big celebration, Congress approved a resolution to make March 14th (3/14) officially National Pi Day.
I had to delete the original post because some weirdo Mr. Spam-a-lot from Sweden with his relevant interest in "poetry" and "babe wallpaper" decided to promote his own viral blog. Don't worry...I've changed the comments settings.
ReplyDeleteSusan,
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that we sort of celebrate Pi day. My son loves math so March 14 is a big day. Last year, his class had a big pi party and loads of moms bought or baked pies. It was fun. Back to your post: I like slight tension between the quantitative customers/authors and the humanities-leaning people who edit them. It's a funny situation, and you captured it well.
As a strictly humanities person, I am enthralled by the sheer math geekiness here. I'm trying to imagine my company covered in Pi posters and it's making me giggle. What a fun little addition to your blog.
ReplyDeleteThis is fascinating... I never knew this day existed, and I love the inclusion of the Don Mclean reference, who doesn't like 'Bye, Bye Ms. American Pie?' Umm, I know I do!
ReplyDelete-Dorie