March 14, 2016
Dear Readers;
Some days when I start to feel like I’m running around in circles I start thinking about Pi.
While I must confess that math is not my strong suit, I’ve long felt a connection to Pi, which is expressed as 3.14 with an infinite string of decimals trailing behind it.
Here’s a little primer on Pi and some of my associations:
- Pi is a mathematical constant; the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter which never changes.
- Yet, Pi is an “Irrational” number, meaning it can’t be calculated exactly, there’s always something that goes beyond a limit.
- Pi is a Transcendental number, which is any number that is not an algebraic number.
- I find it intriguing that Transcendental brings with it other realms of meaning –spiritual or non-physical world, visionary and idealistic.
- Now one of the world’s greatest scientists, Albert Einstein, is a Pi baby, born on March 14, 1879 in Ulm, Germany. But he moved to Princeton, NJ in 1935 where he lived and worked for the Institute for Advanced Study until his death in 1955.
- Princeton is a short jaunt from where I live and work. And Pi day has long been a cause for celebration with many events scheduled, from the playful to the intellectual.
- My last connection to Pi is my company name, Practical Imagination Enterprises (PIE). As we consult in market innovation and qualitative research, we don’t express our findings as numbers, but as insights, stories, concepts and ideas. My work honors the practical, logical and rational, and goes beyond that to encompass the intuitive and the imaginative. We make space for meaning as well as measurement.
Drop me a line or give a call if you would like to know more.
Laurie Tema-Lyn
Practical Imagination Enterprises
laurie@practical-imagination.com
908-399-9460
Happy Pi Day!