Happy Square Root Day

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Does today feel special, or different? Today is one of nine days like it in a century.

March 3, 2009...3-3-09...3x3=9. It's Square Root Day.

We last celebrated Square Root Day on February 2, 2004...2-2-04. Celebrations on that day included asking a groundhog if he saw anything special.

The one before that one was so big, people celebrated it all over the world. January 1, 2001, was the biggest party in the history of Square Root Day. People didn't even have to go to work.

The next one will be April 4, 2016. You can do the math for the rest of the century. Last person standing on September 9, 2081, turn out the lights.

There are celebrations going on today, largely in the math community.

A teacher in Redwood City, California, organized a contest for today, with a prize...$339.

"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," the teacher, Ron Gordon, says.

If you want to bring square root day home, and perhaps teach the kids a thing or two, you can cut root vegetables (carrots, potatoes) into squares.

Not fun enough? Well, you can also cut other foods into the shape of the square root symbol. The pattern for that is most likely not available at the local market, however.

If you're still fired up once square root day is over, this is the best time in the century for you.

Every year on March 14, 3-14, just 11 days away, people celebrate Pi Day. Pi is roughly 3.14, and since it's the ratio of a circle's diameter to its circumference, people celebrate by walking in circles.

Some people find celebrating Pi so much fun, one day just isn't enough. On July 22, you can celebrate Pi Approximation Day. July 22 is 22/7 by some reckonings -- the fractional representation of Pi if you don't like the decimal version 3.14.

So happy Square Root Day. See you on April 4, 2016, and we'll do it again.

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