Do you know what pi is? No, not the food, though. Pi (also known as π) is the symbol given to the number that is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter approximately equal to 3. Well, 3.14. Well, 3.14159. Or, if you really want to push the boat out, 3.141592653589793238462643383. There is really no end to this long number!

Nerds, geeks, and assorted dweebs all over in love with math are really fond of this number, as they celebrate Pi Day every March 14th (geddit? 3.14, like 3/14?), and have championships to see how many people can recognize the number, where the world record is 100,000 correct digits over 16 hours (!). No matter who it is, people are sure to love pi.

It will then surprise you, in fact, that the state of Indiana tried to get rid of pi, or at least that was a physician’s PLAN to, though.

Officially known as Bill 246 of the 1897 sitting of the Indiana General Assembly, the Indiana pi bill was an attempt by physician Edward J. Goodwin who claimed he found a way to calculate the circumference of a circle without using the irrational number, or as Wikipedia says, “squaring the circle”.

Goodwin proposed a bill officially making the circumference of a circle 3.2, and although some people may have thought Goodwin was crazy, or just needed a nap, Indiana state representative Taylor I. Record, approved it and sent it to the Indiana House of Representatives. When it was there, its strange topic and language started confusion, and people didn’t know where to propose it elsewhere. (the Speaker said that it should be proposed to the Committee on Swamplands so that the bill could “find a deserved grave”).

Eventually, the bill made it to the House Education Committee, where it passed with flying colors (though it’s worth noting that they suspended some rules), and the same went for the House, but when it went to the Senate, it was not treated as kindly.

Clarence A. Waldo, an ACTUAL mathemetician, talked to some senators beforehand, which made them less favorable of the bill, but it REALLY failed when a senator basically said, “Hey, wait a minute, the General Assembly can’t change the laws about math!” The bill was then postponed indefinitely, and no person ever proposed a bill like this again.

At least, I don’t think anyone would propose it ever again, considering what they did in the senate:

“… the bill was brought up and made fun of. The Senators made bad puns about it, ridiculed it and laughed over it. The fun lasted half an hour.” —Indianapolis News, February 13, 1897

I guess you just had to be there!