A good idea, or just pi(e) in the sky?
I have recently attended an IB conference in Adelaide and there was quite a lot of talk about justice, equity, diversity and inclusion, JEDI for short. The theme of the conference was ‘Education for an inclusive future.’ There were a number of workshops and keynote speakers as well as panel discussions around these key themes. For the sake of inclusion and in an effort to decolonise the curriculum there are some amendments and changes to subjects and the way they are taught. It is clear that subjects in the humanities can be improved and made more accessible to many more people. However, it is more difficult in mathematics.
That was until this week when I read that in several states (about 10) in the United States that the value of pi (in mathematics) normally 3.142 etc was seen as way too indicative of dead white men, particularly Archimedes, an ancient Greek (who could be problematic) trying to force their exclusive levels of accuracy upon the world. In these US states pi will now simply be taken as being 3. It is argued that 3 is ‘near enough’ and will mean that calculations involving pi will be much easier for everyone to do, thus making it much more inclusive. A spokesperson for the state of Alabama said, ‘We feel that it’s about time that pi was brought into the 21st century and this reform will make mathematics easier and therefore more equal and inclusive.’ Not all were happy though, a parents group said that the idea was ‘totally irrational’ and added that these types of changes to the curriculum were ‘constant’ and ‘where will it ever end?’ One parent complained, ‘the last 4 digits of pi were my ATM pin number, now what am I going to do?’ Clearly, this may have implications for teaching in mathematics and in science so I contacted Le Ministère de l’Education nationale et de la Jeunesse, the International Curriculum Authority (IEYC, IPC and IMYC), Cambridge (IGCSE) and IB for their opinion on the proposed changes to pi. IB replied somewhat cryptically, ‘an opinion without pi is just an onion.’ Go figure!
