(Image credit: Flickr user Alan Sheffield)
Seven years ago, we celebrated Square Root Day on March 3, 2009, because it is abbreviated as 3-3-09. Even in Europe. At the time, we considered the next Square Root Day to be a long way off, and here it is! Today is 4-4-16, and since 4x4=16, four is the square root of 16. The holiday is the brainchild of Ron Gordon, the master of calendar holidays. On his website dedicated to Square Root Day, Gordon is celebrating the convergence of Square Root Day with Major League Baseball’s Opening Day. You know, the game where men run around all four sides of a square to get home. Tonight is the championship game of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, too! It’s a good day to "root" for your team.
There are plenty of ways to celebrate Square Root Day, including going to a ballgame, planting root vegetables, eating your carrots and other root vegetables cut into squares, watching math videos, etc. Gordon has more ideas, and a contest!
It's a good day to.......get things squared away, try to fit a square peg into a round hole, go square dancing, tie a square knot, travel on Route 66, drink rootbeer from a square glass, root for the underdog, eat a square meal, or watch the pigs root around.
We've established a contest with two prize packets. Each group of winners will share the date in dollars---$441.6. One packet will be divided among 4 + 4 + 16 U.S. winners. A second grouping will share the international prize, also totaling $441.6. The winners will be those who involve the most people in a Square Root celebration. Entries can include creating the largest square root sign from people, serving rootbeer in square glasses to the most folks, or cutting many roots into squares (well, cubes) for a square root stew.
Share your Square Root Day celebrations at the Facebook page dedicated to the day.