Pi Day 2019: the International Visitors

Ahoy!

Pi Day at PhilosFX is always about numbers, especially our favorite irrational number.  

The focus for this year’s Pi Day story is on the International visitors to PhilosFX. If we rank unique visitors from all countries, the USA dominates with about 16 times the unique visitors from Canada and the United Kingdom. 

With 46,981 unique domestic visitors, we’re up 9% from last year and nearly double (96%) four years ago. Those might be impressive gains if we were talking about an investment portfolio. But the domestic gains pale in comparison to the steeper increase in unique visits from other countries.

With 71 unique visits, Bulgaria made the Flag Counter cut-off for the top 48 countries. This is up 45% from last year's cut-off, and 123% from this time 4 years ago. The USA leads in raw numbers but the rate of growth among the other nations is faster.

The total number of visits (including repeats)—383,766—is up 12% from last year and much more than double (126%) four years ago. While unique visitors are mostly coming from the US (64% to 36%), repeat visits — 81% overall—are mostly foreign (93% to 78%).

International visitors who discover and return to PhilosFX are notable on a percentage basis, and furthermore, the increase among international visitors is coming from many different countries. We show the top 48 in the Flag Counter display but there are 242 nations in the world. Currently, we have received at least one visitor from 91% (220) of all nations. This reflects an increase of 22 new country flags in the past year alone. Wow! 

Notice that we are only 17 posts away from the 1,000 post milestone, and 5 months away from concluding our 9th year.  I’d love to see your suggestions for future posts. Please leave your ideas in the comments!

I offer a heartfelt "Thank You" to readers from nearly every country on the planet! Your views and comments make Pi Day fun!

Cheers! 

Here are links to all 6 previous Pi Day posts. Enjoy!

https://philosfx.blogspot.com/2018/03/pi-day-2018.html

https://philosfx.blogspot.com/2015/03/a-pi-day-for-ages.html

http://philosfx.blogspot.com/2014/03/pi-day-2014.html

http://philosfx.blogspot.com/2013/03/pi-day-treat.html

http://philosfx.blogspot.com/2012/03/pi-day.html

http://philosfx.blogspot.com/2011/03/happy-pi-day-314.html

Pi Day 2018

Here at PhilosFX, we celebrate Pi Day with numbers. Our last Pi Day celebration, billed as One for the Ages, was posted at (wait for it...) 

3/14/15 @ 9:26:53

And as if to prove the point, we did not mark Pi Day in 2016 or '17. Kinda tough to beat that particular alignment of digits! 

But today, something happened that reawakened this urge to call attention to our favorite irrational number. Today: 

• is not only the 10th annual Pi Day (first observed in the US on Mar 14, 2009), 
• and is not only the 139th anniversary of the birth of Albert Einstein, but today 
• we also mourn the passing of theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking at the age of 76. 

Here is a look at our blog stats for this Pi day as compared with the measures taken three years ago and with our first Pi day seven years ago.

A Pi Day for the Ages

Mark your calendars and set your alarms for Saturday, March 14, 2015, at 9:26.53 a.m.

Or, in another means of expression,

3/14/15 @ 9:26:53

This, of course, for those of you who do not already have your calendars marked, represents the first ten digits of the mystical ratio known for ages by the Greek letter, pi 

Here at PhilosFX, we have a tradition of celebrating Pi Day in numbers. Here is a look at Numbers of Note on Pi (3.14) Day, 2015

I do not know if my "blogological" musings are helping or hindering anyone else, but this I do know: 

My blogging may not change the world, but 

Blogging changes me, and then 

I change the world.

Keep on bloggin'!

Albert Einstein was born on March 14, which is also celebrated as Pi Day,
honoring the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter,
otherwise known as the  mathematical constant π. Credit: Biography.com

R. Crumb is considered by many to be the
single best cartoonist America has ever produced.

Previous posts on this Pi Day Par-tay theme:

• 3.14.2014
• 3.14.2013
• 3.14.2012
• 3.14.2011

Pi Day 2014

It's Fri-day Pi Day. Let's Par-Tay!

Great pic! Stolen from Angelique,
who stole it from Suzi Q,
who just found it, honest! 

I like to celebrate Pi Day (3/14) with

• a little tribute to Albert Einstein, born 135 years ago today (March 14, 1879)
• a few entertaining Pi(e) jokes, puzzles, riddles, or amusements, and
• the annual review of PhilosFX blog stats

First: Albert. I've always appreciated Einstein's curiosity, his quirky sense of humor, his faith, and his quest for simplicity amid complexity. Here is his endearingly straightforward explanation of his Theory of Relativity:

Poster: Found on Google+

And now for some Pi...e diversions:

• This is amusing: http://www.angio.net/pi/ (Thanks, MG's Mom)
• On the other hand, this is just baffling: http://www.piday.org/million/ (Thanks(?) DelBai, but what are we supposed to do with this information? ha!) 
• A puzzle for you, adapted from one heard recently on NPR's Car Talk. 

Thirteen matches are arranged as shown in the attached illustration. The Roman numerals form an incorrect equation, namely, 23 divided by 7 equals 2. Move one match and one match only to create a correct equation. Using one match to change the equals sign into an unequal sign is rational, but there is a more elegant solution. Can you solve the puzzle?

Finally, this year's PhilosFX update. It's been a great year for PhilosFX! We just crossed over 111,111 unique visitors. I honestly do not know if that number is big or small, but it sure is interesting!

I do not know if my musings are helping or hindering anyone else, but I do know this: blogging does not change the world; blogging changes me, and then I change the world.

Keep on bloggin' on!

Previous posts on this Pi Day Party theme:

• http://philosfx.blogspot.com/2013/03/pi-day-treat.html
• http://philosfx.blogspot.com/2011/03/happy-pi-day-314.html

Until next year, thanks for reading, sharing, and engaging! Now, let's go get some