Around the world﹕Numbers game
【明報專訊】The Smarties have filmed special videos for Pi Day and uploaded them to the social media. However, something upsets Bill...
“ Bill: MoMo and Pat's "π Dance" video has attracted so many "likes" and followers... ”
“ Bill: ...which has hugely outnumbered mine. I am a boring and worthless person... ”
“ Dr Panda: Don't play the numbers game. I think your idea is very interesting. ”
“ Pat: Yea, and our support for you is like π! ”
“ Bill: What does it mean? ”
“ Dr Panda, Pat, MoMo: It never ends! ”
■Culture tips
Pi day
Today is Pi day, which is literally a celebration of the mathematical symbol Pi (Greek letter "π"). It might sound absurd, but yes, people commemorate the discovery of the constant — the ratio (比率) of the circumference (圓周) of a circle to its diameter, which is approximately 3.14159 (being an irrational number, π cannot be expressed exactly as its decimal representation (小數) never ends) — by eating pie ("pi").
Even more interesting is the official recognition. In 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution designating March 14 as "National Pi Day". They are not yet the most peculiar. Pi lovers even strictly adhere to the "pi moment" on the day. Perhaps it all came along with mathematicians' obsession with numbers.
■English highway﹕numbers game
When somebody plays the numbers game, he or she cares only about the number of people involved in something.
e.g. The company is playing the numbers game as it only pays attention to sales figures rather than the quality of its products.
■Glossary
outnumber (v) 數量上超過
absurd (adj) 荒誕的
peculiar (adj) 奇怪的
obsession (n) 癡迷
[Smarties' Power English 第211期]
