Dear Kid,

Today is the Wonder that is Pi Day. Which means we must think in increments slightly larger than three but not so large as 4 and contemplate the giggle that is your sister.

Since we have previously covered all the interesting facts about Pi, Pi Day, and Pi Approximation Day (and I’m not currently in the mood to make up research New and Interesting Facts about Pi), I thought we could round down and talk about the number three.

Turns out there are a LOT of interesting things about the number three, so we are going to cover the number three in 3 days. See how nicely (nice-three?) that works out? Today we’ll cover the basics of the number three (which includes some not so basic stuff), tomorrow is the number three in sports, and Friday we’ll talk about the number three in mythology (including a preview for St. Patrick’s Day). Exciting, yes?

Let us begin.

The Number Three | The Basics

Three is a prime number, a triangular number, a Fibonacci number, and a Lucas number. You knew it was prime.

If you add all the digits in a number and the sum is divisible by three, then the original number is divisible by three. You knew that too.

Tri means three. Which means Trigonometry test should only have had three questions and the whole class should only have lasted three days. Or three weeks. Trig teachers never got that.

The letters A F H K N Y Z are all made up of three lines.

All kinds of things come in threes. Like See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. And bears, Teletubbies, chances, wishes, little pigs, and billy goats.

Three is considered the number of harmony, wisdom, and understanding. Or at least it was in the 1960s.

A tress of hair originally meant a plait or pigtail with three interwoven strands of hair. In other words, a braid. Which were very popular in the 1960s.

There are three barleycorns in an inch, three feet in a yard, and three miles in a league. No one knows what any of that means…

Joke break
Spell ‘mousetrap’ in 3 letters…
Answer: C-A-T.

If the number of petals on a flower is a multiple of three, it is probably from a group of plants called the monocotyledons which includes crocuses, daffodils, tulips, lilies and other plants grown from bulbs. No one cares because it’s pretty easy to identify crocuses, tulips, daffodils.

There are three primary colors—mostly because there are three kinds of cones in our retinas to interpret color.

You need a minimum of three colors to create camouflage patterns.

According to Benjamin Disraeli (British Prime Minister, 1804-1881) there are three types of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics. This is one of my favorite quotes, but I didn’t realize it was attributable to Disraeli until just now. The things I learn…

Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States.

There are three languages on the Rosetta Stone: Demotic (Egyptian), Hieroglyphic, and Classical Greek.

Octopuses (octopi?) have three hearts, so I think they should be the new symbol for Valentine’s Day. Camels and cats have three eyelids. They believe it makes them superior. To everything.

Gemini is the third astrological sign of the Zodiac.

In the Tarot, three is the card of the Empress. I don’t know anything about Tarot, but it seems to me the Empress should be #1.

And because it really is Pi Day:

Joke: A round pizza with radius ‘z’ and thickness ‘a’ has the volume Pi·z·z·a.

Ha.

Love, Mom