Ark Valley News - Record not as easy as pi

Cole Klinkhammer (left), Brilee Holle and Dalton Wilson start the human chain displaying the correct order of pi March 12.

Record not as easy as pi
By Chris Strunk
Last Updated: March 19, 2015

It may be awhile before Kristen Joyal learns whether she helped set a world record last week.

But the Valley Center High School math teacher already knows the pi project on March 12 was worth the effort.

"It was fun, and the kids were excited," Joyal said. "And I was really glad that we could involve some of our younger students."

About 1,800 high school, middle school and intermediate school students lined up along North Meridian — stretching from 93rd North to the middle school parking lot — and held numbers in an effort to have the world's longest human chain representing pi.

The event was in conjunction with World Pi Day, which is celebrated on March 14. Since Valley Center didn't have classes that day, the world-record attempt took place March 12.

Guiness officials told Joyal that Valley Center must have at least the first 250 numbers in perfect order to set a record.

Though all 1,800 students had numbers, Joyal said she is relatively confident they reached at least 545 in the right sequence.

"We're not sure after that," she said. "We had a little issue at the beginning of the line."

Numbers were handed out in order by stacks of 50 in envelopes. One stack didn't make it to the right spot, leaving 50 digits without students to hold them.

A few teachers and other adults stepped into the line, and science teacher Eugene Allyn made his way down the line putting numbers in the right sequence. He made it to 545, Joyal said.

"We were just trying to get the mistake as far down the line as possible," she said.

Joyal said since organizers didn't pay to have a Guiness representative witness the event, they are putting together the video, pictures and news coverage to document the attempt. The information will be sent to Guiness officials to determine whether a record was set.

"I think overall it went well," Joyal said. "It's hard to organize 1,800 kids and all the teachers it requires. We had so many people helping and everyone did their part and that was just amazing."

The world record idea sprang from a discussion among math teachers on how they would commemorate Pi Day this year since it was an "epic" year of 3/14/15, which only happens every 100 years.

"I don't even remember who it was, but someone suggested we set a world record," Joyal recalls.

At first, teachers wanted to make a pi paper chain. Guiness officials suggested, instead, that the group create the human chain.

"We were really excited," Joyal said.

Planning started immediately. It was intense, at times, as was the execution.

"It became like a full-time job," Joyal said. "The most difficult part was sharing our vision and how in our minds, how we were actually going to accomplish it. Sharing and communicating that with other teachers and administration was difficult."

Though some students were absent, the line was to include 800 high-schoolers, 550 middle-schoolers and 500 students from the intermediate school.

Pi, a number used in mathematics to determine the area and circumference of circles, is a never-ending figure (or irrational number). The number, represented by the π symbol, starts with 3.1415926535.

"I think it's really cool that we can take something as boring as math is to some people and set a world record," said senior Cole Klinkhammer, who held the line's first digit.

Klinkhammer said he was selected to start the line in a random drawing of people who bought Pi Day T-shirts.

Joyal said pi is an important part of math.

"If you're going to go on in math, it's just going to be part of almost everything you're doing," Joyal said. "… It's probably the most famous irrational number."