Many congratulations to Zaynab Choudhury (Year 11), who was awarded a runner-up spot in the national Think Maths Pi Representation Competition, held in celebration of Pi Day (12th March).

Students were challenged to represent π in any creative way they chose. For example, they could produce artwork, compose a piece of music, or write a poem.

With over 400 entries, the submissions were judged across several categories, including originality and clarity of the idea, technical skill, effort involved and mathematical understanding/accuracy.

Zaynab’s entry was a crocheted ‘Pi-on-a-pie’ plushie, a charming creation where the item itself represents the value of π. The plushie is made with exactly 987 stitches (since π squared approximates 9.87) and has a base diameter of 6.28 cm (as two lots of π approximately 6.28). Zaynab successfully incorporated multiple references to π, demonstrating both the skill and commitment involved in her work.

Zaynab said: “Crocheting is one of my favourite hobbies so when I saw that there was a competition to creatively express Pi, I naturally decided to crochet. I came home one night and wanted to focus on something other than revision so I challenged myself to create a pattern and plushie that could represent many aspects of Pi(e). The time spent was well worth it as it now functions as a stress ball when doing math.”