A family as irrational as pi holds on to rational moments
Aidan’s on his second semester at Riordan High School, and my little freshman still hasn’t joined any clubs. I get that they only meet virtually these days, but still, it’s part of the high school experience.
Back in South Ozone Park, Brother XX played basketball, as well as saxophone for the band. Brother X ran cross country and track. And me? Captain of the math team. And yes, I know it doesn’t get any nerdier than captain of the math team. We even had a cheer (Secant! Tangent! Cosine! Sine! Three point one four one five nine! Integrate! Integrate! Integrate! Go Calculus!) Under my yearbook picture the inscription read, “Most Likely to Prove Fermat’s Last Theorem.”
For the rest of this column, I’m going to go on the assumption that those of you reading are not math nerds and provide some context. You will be happier that way.
There are two kinds of numbers, rational (numbers that can be expressed as the division of two integers), like 13/20 or 0, and irrational (numbers that cannot), like the square root of 2. These go on and on for decimals, without a pattern.
The most famous irrational number is pi. Also referred to as Archimedes’ constant, it is simply the circumference of a circle divided by its diameter. Its decimal representation never ends, but it starts out 3.1415926535 …
Ludolf van Ceulen, a 16th century mathematician, spent most of his life calculating the value of pi to the 35th decimal place. He had it engraved on his tombstone in Leiden, Netherlands, but never found any repeating theme to it.
Years later, they found a spot in pi, at the 762nd decimal place, where you find a 9, then another 9, then another 9. Then … another 9. And for just a fraction of time, you think that life is predictable again. Even in chaos there appears a design with six 9s in a row. Then it stops.
It’s known as the Feynman point, named after this other guy from Queens, physicist Richard Feynman.
Many things in life are not rational, sometimes barely explainable. I once wrote a column about pie, and stated that Nurse Vivian had left out an ingredient: “Add four t’s of …” The retired mayor of San Anselmo, Kay Coleman, advised me that my dough needed four tablespoons of vodka. I have no idea how it works, but now my crusts are tender.
Here’s my point: The FisherPaulsons are not a rational family. We do not fit together, the dancer and the deputy, the 17yearold (who I think looks like Nat King Cole, but he says he’s more like Luh Kel) and the 15year old, who’s more comfortable with wolves than he is with humans. And three dogs, two of them rescue, with a grand total of nine working legs between them. Brian and I don’t naturally multiply, and we never work as a house divided. We’ve been through fires, COVID and cancer , and sending our son off into the desert. A lot of days, there doesn’t seem to be a pattern.
But last week was our Feynman point. We have a set date for Aidan’s confirmation. Queenie figured out how to pee outside. Zane enrolled in City College of San Francisco, joining such illustrious alumni as Pat Paulson, Danny Glover, Lee Meriwether, Barbara Eden and Bill Bixby. That’s right, Catwoman, Jeannie and the Incredible Hulk. Every once in a while, even we look rational, and sometimes there is order in the outer, outer, outer, outer Excelsior. Aidan might even join a club.
At some point, we will get to our 769th decimal place and life will seem random again. … Cars will crash. Grades will fail. But we’ve already been through irrational. We’re not afraid of it.
Did you know that pi is also considered a transcendental number? Makes sense in a way, that you got to go through a lot of craziness before you get to the spiritual side.
For us, we’re just happy with our six 9s in a row.
We will get to our 769th decimal place and life will seem random again. … But we’ve already been through irrational. We’re not afraid of it.