2009-03-03

March 5 is the Square Root of Christmas

I just wanted to make the announcement, if anyone happened to be unaware. The reason for the holiday, if you haven't guessed already, is because sqrt(1225) = 35. Translating those numbers into calendar dates gives us the square root of Christmas 12/25 falling on 3/5. It just so happens that there is another big nerd holiday in March, Pi Day (3/14). Why not connect these two dates with a week(ish) long nerd celebration? I hereby declare that:
  • March 5th shall be known as the Square Root of Christmas and
  • The 10-day interval between the Square Root of Christmas and Pi Day shall be known as Nerdigras
Update (2010-11-14): The official page for the Square Root of Christmas and Nerdigras has moved to http://sencjw.com/the-square-root-of-christmas/" (These links have been changed to point to the official location given below -- chris)


Update (2012-02-05): The Square Root of Christmas finally has a domain name to call its own! Use either: http://squarerootofchristmas.com/ or (for shorter links) http://sqrtxmas.com/ if you mention it on twitter, use #sqrtxmas

12 comments:

PetersonK said...

Pi Day is coming up.. also my B-day

Justin Lilly said...

I think unlike lent, you should have to make or learn something in the 40 days after nerdigras.

Venkat said...

I call it
"Happy Quintilis!"

Reason: sqrt(1225*35) = 207.

207th day falls in July and 'Quintilis' is Latin for July.

peSHIr said...

Being a real nerd, I must say that not everyone is in the same locale. For me Christmas is 25-12 (not 12/25) and Pi Day would not even exist for me, as there is no fourteenth month.

So, I'll just play along with this otherwise smashing idea. Have the happiest of Nerdigras everyone! (Not that difficult, as is this obviously the very first one in existence. ;-))

Rob Van Dam said...

Those in a European style date locale can still play along, they just have to celebrate square root of my birthday instead.

Mar 5 = 5/3 = 53

53 * 53 = 2809 = Sep 28 (my birthday)

And what's more, its like double christmas because:

Jul 1 = 1/7 = 17

17 * 17 = 289 = Sep 28 (ALSO my birthday)

Unknown said...

It has also been noted that

Oct 31 = Dec 25,

thereby equating the observances on the two days.

Chris said...

I've gotten into the habit of writing dates in a "big endian" style:

2009-03-09 yesterday
2009-03-10 today
2009-03-11 tomorrow
(or sometimes without the dashes)

I started doing this because I wanted dates to sort (and be written) like regular numbers.

But when signing checks, I'll sometimes write "2009, March 10" to make it explicit (because writing YYYY-MM-DD is definitely non-standard in the U.S.).

enjanerd said...

Just wanted to let you know that I've added this to my Nerd calendar. Let me know if you have anything else to add!

David said...

PI Day's next day was my birthday but i could not enjoy that much like my previous year the PI day also my birthday because i was alone for my exam.
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A sciency type, but trying to branch out into other areas. After several years out in the science jungle, I'm headed back to school to see what I can make of the other side of the brain.