Day: March 14, 2011

Constant Celebration

Can you guess what my favorite mathematical constant might be?  There is a clue in the URL address of my blog.  Still unsure?

This mathematical constant whose value is the ratio of any circle’s circumference to its diameter.  It is an irrational number, which means that its value cannot be expressed exactly as a fraction m/n, where m and n are integers. Consequently, its decimal representation never ends or repeats.  It is also a transcendental number, which implies, among other things, that no finite sequence of algebraic operations on integers (powers, roots, sums, etc.) can be equal to its value.

Yes, together with other math-loving geeks out there in the universe, I’m celebrating Pi Day.  And if WordPress behaves itself and publishes this as I’ve scheduled it to, at exactly 1:59 pm (Central time), I will have succeeded in my mathematically constant celebration.

Pi pie
Pi pie

Update on Librarian Boycott of HC

Publishers Weekly Soapbox tweeted an update this morning on the Librarian Boycott of HarperCollins, which I blogged about last week in a couple of posts.

Some highlights from the article include:

Libraries are one of the last true commons in modern life, celebrating and championing the right to read and freedom of access to information. Stewardship of the written record is integral to our mission. Libraries don’t have a financial stake in the publishing business so much as society has a cultural stake in the future of libraries.

Currently, librarians rely on the First Sale doctrine—which makes it legal to circulate materials we purchase and manage—along with our trustworthiness. We enforce copyright laws as much as we can, teaching our patrons about fair use and piracy.

Another troubling aspect of the HarperCollins message is the attempt to prevent resource sharing, which is a core value for librarians.