That Time Indiana Almost Changed the Value of Pi...
If one amateur mathematician had his way, we might not be celebrating Pi Day on March 14th.
Way back in 1897, Edward Goodwin almost convinced the Indiana state legislature to pass the [Indiana Pi Bill](https://www.agecon.purdue.edu/crd/localgov/second%20level%20pages/indiana_pi_bill.htm), which would have legally defined the value of π as 3.2.
As Curiosity.com editor and podcast host Ashley Hamer tells it, Goodwin thought that he had solved a long standing mathematical problem.
“[Mathematicians] were trying to come up with a square that had the same area as a circle, but because you have Pi in the formula for the area of a circle, you can’t actually do that,” she said. “It would mean that one of the sides would have an irrational number.”
Convinced he had the answer, Goodwin helped introduce legislation that eventually passed the Indiana House with a 67-0 vote. But the bill was stopped when it got to the State Senate.
“The Senate realized that you can’t actually make laws defining mathematical truths,” Hamer told Cheddar. “It’d be sort of like making a law saying the Earth is flat. There’s no real reason to even make that law, because that’s not really their responsibility.”
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/everything-youll-ever-need-to-know-about-pi-2).
It's Friday at long last. Jill and Carlo cover the latest on Omicron, including a possible superspreader event in NYC. Plus, previewing the November jobs report, a new Zoom feature no one asked for, and when it's no longer a good idea to eat Thanksgiving leftovers.
Three cases of the new omicron COVID-19 variant have been confirmed in the U.S. Cheddar speaks with global infection disease specialist Dr. Rajeev Fernando on how to prepare for a possible new coronavirus wave.
In 2015, 193 parties signed the Paris Agreement. In doing so, they agreed to pursue efforts to limit the average global temperature increase to 1.5° Celsius - or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit -above pre-industrial levels. To be clear, our planet is already 1.1 degrees hotter than it was 150 years ago. But most scientists agree that an increase of just .4 more degrees will drastically change the world. However, it would continue to be livable. Things do get murky, though, as the projections increase above that.
Dr. Jen Caudle, family physician and associate professor at Rowan University, joined Cheddar to break down how people can protect themselves and family amid the uncertainty of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant. Caudle emphasized the importance of getting vaccinated against COVID-19 with so much still uncertain about the pandemic. "We have to remember delta variant is still here in the United States," she said. "We're still losing too many people every single day to this virus."
Jill and Carlo discuss what appears to be the beginning of the end of Roe v. Wade, another victim dies following the school shooting in Michigan, Omicron in the U.S., Trump's Covid chronology and more.
Was it a coincidence that the omicron coronavirus variant evolved in a region with low vaccination rates? Cheddar speaks with epidemiologist Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding on the topic.
Astra founder, chairman, and CEO Chris Kemp spoke to Cheddar's Kristen Scholer about his company's first successful launch into orbit last month, becoming the fastest space company to reach orbit using a privately developed liquid-fueled rocket. He also noted that the company's priority is to "improve life on Earth from space" by rapidly increasing the number of low-orbiting satellites to do everything from connecting people to monitoring weather patterns.
Stocks closed at session lows Wednesday as investors grew skittish over the first reported case of the COVID-19 omicron variant in California. Josh Sailar, Partner at Blue Zone Wealth Advisors, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss investor worry over the new variant, the Fed dropping the word 'transitory' to describe inflation and potentially speeding up their asset tapering timeline, 2022 predictions, and more.
