Ask the Weather Guys: Is there pi, along with pie, in the sky?
STEVEN A. ACKERMAN and JONATHAN MARTIN | UW-Madison department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences
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Q: Is mathematical pi used in meteorology?
A: The ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter is a constant value. The size of the circle does not matter; this ratio is always the same value and is called pi.
The existence of this constant was known by the Babylonians and the Egyptians dating back to at least 2000 B.C. The numerical value is represented by the Greek letter for p, or π.
The first three digits of pi are 3.14, so today — March 14 — is often celebrated as pi day with pie.
The value of π turns out to be an irrational number: Its decimal form neither ends nor becomes repetitive. The exact value is unknowable. About a decade ago, a researcher calculated the value to 2.7 trillion digits.
You might have first encountered pi in early classes on geometry or trigonometry. You learned that pi, along with the radius, is used to calculate the circumference of a circle, the area of a circle or the volume of a sphere. Since cloud droplets are near spherical, pi is used to calculate how much water is in a cloud knowing the number and size of the drops.
Because of pi’s relationship to the circle and to spherical coordinate systems, it appears in many formulas in many areas of mathematics and physics. Meteorology is a physical science, steeped in math, so we inevitably encounter pi.
Pi appears in the field of electromagnetics, which is used to describe how light travels through the atmosphere. It is used in equations that describe why the sky is blue.
Pi appears in equations describing processes that are periodic, and therefore is intimately associated with waves. Atmospheric patterns and the movement of the winds can be described as waves. So, pi appears in mathematical equations that describe the movement of weather systems. The waviness pattern of the jet stream can be described by its “meandering ratio,” which includes the value of pi.
A world without pi, and pie, would be very different.
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ID Tech, a summer tech program for kids, says that in the future, games, apps and technology in general will be an even more integral part of our lives.
Autonomous cars, robots, digital shopping kiosks and similar applications all need software, and that software will need to be programmed and developed by human coders, ID Tech says. Given today's online coding boot camps and other unconventional learning systems, a traditional academic education will not necessarily be a requirement, The Balance notes.
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In the future, services like food ordering, obtaining a driver’s license, picking up a prescription and even getting your teeth cleaned, likely will be performed at a kiosk or at an automated service location, ID Tech says.
And, realistic-looking hair and skin with embedded sensors will allow robots to react naturally in their environment, likely making humans more comfortable with them. Humans will be needed to keep these artificial beings and systems humming along.
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Virtual reality and augmented reality will radically change the way we live in the future. To escape from reality, we’ll inhabit virtual playgrounds, ID Tech says.
Maybe going on vacation won’t even be a thing one day. People will just put on a headset to escape. The same virtual technologies will be used to educate us. There are many jobs in this space, from virtual worlds designer to avatar moderator and manager, ID Tech says.
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Electric cars are the future, and those cars will have automated driving systems that will take the responsibility of operating a car out of human hands.
We’ll need engineers to design and build vehicles, according to ID Tech, and we’ll also need them to build the autonomous systems and networks that drive cars and route delivery vehicles, public transportation, general traffic and ambulances and firetrucks.
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We must turn to alternate forms of energy to support our growing needs. Solar, wind and water will become increasingly necessary to power our world. The future will need people to find new resources and engineers to develop, test, deploy and repair these systems, ID Tech says.
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In the future, drones will expand far beyond what they are today, and will be used for repairing telecommunication lines, finding people who are lost in remote areas, delivering your Amazon Fresh order and much more.
Big tech companies like Facebook and Google are experimenting with solar-powered drone technology to beam Internet to remote locations. This could transform connectivity as we know it, according to the California University of Pennsylvania. The maintenance of drones (and possibly some flight control) will still be done by humans, while engineers will continue to modify and update the flying bots, ID Tech says.
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Travel into space likely will one day become as common as getting on an airplane to visit another city.
We’ll need to build spacecrafts and space stations, and specialized dietary and exercise experts will also be needed to help humans deal with life in space, ID Tech notes. Materials specialists, space explorers and engineers will all be working together to help us conquer the challenges of the final frontier.
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How we feed the growing world will be vital, and doing so in a sustainable way will become even more important. Vertical farming is one solution, and genetic seed engineers will develop drought and disease-tolerant strains that maximize yield and quality, ID Tech predicts.
The Future Farmers of America says that hydrologists will be increasingly needed to protect the environment and promote sustainability while helping supply the world with clean, safe water.
