`\pi` Day 2015 Art Posters

▲ 2021 `\pi` reminds us that good things grow for those who wait.' edition.

▲ 2019 `\pi` has hundreds of digits, hundreds of languages and a special kids' edition.

▲ 2018 `\pi` day stitches street maps into new destinations.

▲ 2017 `\pi` day imagines the sky in a new way.

▲ 2016 `\pi` approximation day wonders what would happen if about right was right.

▲ 2016 `\pi` day sees digits really fall for each other.

▲ 2015 `\pi` day maps transcendentally.

▲ 2014 `\pi` approx day spirals into roughness.

▲ 2014 `\pi` day hypnotizes you into looking.

▲ 2014 `\pi` day

▲ 2013 `\pi` day is where it started

▲ Circular `\pi` art and other distractions

On March 14th celebrate `\pi` Day. Hug `\pi`—find a way to do it.

For those who favour `\tau=2\pi` will have to postpone celebrations until July 26th. That's what you get for thinking that `\pi` is wrong. I sympathize with this position and have `\tau` day art too!

If you're not into details, you may opt to party on July 22nd, which is `\pi` approximation day (`\pi` ≈ 22/7). It's 20% more accurate that the official `\pi` day!

Finally, if you believe that `\pi = 3`, you should read why `\pi` is not equal to 3.

Most of the art is available for purchase as framed prints and, yes, even pillows. Sleep's never been more important — I take custom requests.

Not a circle in sight in the 2015 `\pi` day art. Try to figure out how up to 612,330 digits are encoded before reading about the method. `\pi`'s transcendental friends `\phi` and `e` are there too—golden and natural. Get it?

This year's `\pi` day is particularly special. The digits of time specify a precise time if the date is encoded in North American day-month-year convention: 3-14-15 9:26:53.

The art has been featured in Ana Swanson's Wonkblog article at the Washington Post—10 Stunning Images Show The Beauty Hidden in `\pi`.

We begin with a square and progressively divide it. At each stage, the digit in `pi` is used to determine how many lines are used in the division. The thickness of the lines used for the divisions can be attenuated for higher levels to give the treemap some texture.

▲ Representing a number using a tree map. Each digit of the number is used to successively divide a shape, such as a square. (zoom)

This method of encoding data is known as treemapping. Typically, it is used to encode hierarchical information, such as hard disk spac usage, where the divisions correspond to the total size of files within directories.

▲ At each level of the tree map, more digits are encoded. Shown here are tree maps for `pi` for the first 6 levels of division. (zoom)

This kind of treemap can be made from any number. Below I show 6 level maps for `pi`, `phi` (Golden ratio) and `e` (base of natural logarithm).

▲ At each level of the tree map, more digits are encoded. Shown here are tree maps for `pi` for the first 6 levels of division. (zoom)

The number of digits per level, `n_i` and total digits, `N_i` in the tree map for `pi`, `phi` and `e` is shown below for levels `i = 1 .. 6`.

           PI             PHI              e
i     n_i    N_i      n_i    N_i      n_i    N_i
1       1      1        1      1        1      1
2       4      5        2      3        3      4
3      15     20        9     12       19     23
4      98    118       59     71       96    119
5     548    666      330    401      574    693
6    2962   3628     1857   2258     3162   3855
7   16616  20244    10041  12299    17541  21396
8   91225 111469
9  500861 612330

Dividing the map

In all the treemaps above, the divisions were made uniformly for each rectangle. With uniform division, the lines that divide a shape are evenly spaced. With randomized division, the placement of lines is randomized, while still ensuring that lines do not coincide.

A multiplier, such as `phi` (Golden Ratio), can be used to control the division. In this case, the first division is made at 1/`phi` (0.62/0.38 split) and the remaining rectangle (0.38) is further divided at `/`phi` (0.24/0.14 split).

▲ The divisions of each shape can be influenced by another number and the level at which the division is performed. (zoom)

Using a non-uniform multipler is one way to embed another number in the art.

When a multiplier like `phi` is used, divisions at the top levels create very large rectangles. To attenuate this, the effect of the multiplier can be weighted by the level. Regardless of what multiplier is used, the first level is always uniformly divided. Division at subsequent levels incorporates more of the multiplier effect.

The orientation of the division can be uniform (same for a layer and alternating across layers), alternating (alternating across and within a layer) or random. This modification has an effect only if the divisions are not uniform.

▲ The divisions of each shape can be influenced by another number and the level at which the division is performed. (zoom)

Adjusting line thickness

To emphasize the layers, a different line thickness can be used. When lines are drawn progressively thinner with each layer, detail is controlled and the map has more texture.

When all lines have the same thickness, it is harder to distinguish levels.

▲ The divisions of each shape can be influenced by another number and the level at which the division is performed. (zoom)

You could see this as a challenge! Below I show the treemaps for `pi`, `phi` and `e` with and without stroke modulation.

▲ The divisions of each shape can be influenced by another number and the level at which the division is performed. (zoom)

When displayed at a low resolution (the image below is 620 pixels across), shapes at higher levels appear darker because the distance between the lines within is close to (or smaller) than a pixel. By matching the line thickness to the image resolution, you can control how dark the smallest divisions appear.

▲ The divisions of each shape can be influenced by another number and the level at which the division is performed. (zoom)

Adding color

Adding color can make things better, or worse. Dropping color randomly, without respect for the level structure of the treemap, creates a mess.

We can rescue things by increasing the probability that a given rectangle will be made transparent—this will allow the color of the rectangle below to show through. Additionally, by drawing the layers in increasing order, smaller rectangles are drawn on top of bigger ones, giving a sense of recursive subdivision.

▲ The divisions of each shape can be influenced by another number and the level at which the division is performed. (zoom)

Because the color is assigned randomly, various instances of the treemap can be made. The maps below have the same proportion of colors and transparency (same as the first image in second row in the figure above) and vary only by the random seed to pick colors.

▲ Different instances of 5 level `pi` treemaps. The proportion of transparent, white, yellow, red and blue shapes is 20:1:1:1:1. (zoom)

Coloring using adjacency graph

The color assignments above were random. For each shape the probability of choosing a given color (transparent, white, yellow, red, blue) was the same.

Color choice for a shape can also be influenced by the color of neighbouring shapes. To do this, we need to create a graph that captures the adjacency relationship between all the shapes at each level. Below I show the first 4 levels of the `pi` treemap and their adjacency graphs. In each graph, the node corresponds to a shape and an edge between nodes indicates that the shapes share a part of their edge. Shapes that touch only at a corner are not considered adjacent.

▲ Different instances of 5 level `pi` treemaps. The proportion of transparent, white, yellow, red and blue shapes is 20:1:1:1:1. (zoom)

One way in which the graphs can be used is to attempt to color each layer using at most 4 colors. The 4 color theorem tells us that only 4 unique colors are required to color maps such as these in a way that no two neighbouring shapes have the same color.

It turns out that the full algorithm of coloring a map with only 4 colors is complicated, but reasonably simple options exist.. For the maps here, I used the DSATUR (maximum degree of saturation) approach.

▲ Different instances of 5 level `pi` treemaps. The proportion of transparent, white, yellow, red and blue shapes is 20:1:1:1:1. (zoom)

The DSATUR algorithm works well, but does not guarantee a 4-color solution. It performs no backtracking. If you look carefully, one of the rectangles in the 4th layer (top right quadrant in the graph) required a 5th color (shown black).