Happy Square Root Day

3/03/09 is a special day for all Math buffs - it is Square Root day - one of only nine such dates that occur in a Century. The next one will take place in seven years, on April 4th, 2016 or 4/04/16.

For those of you who are too young (or too old) to remember what a Square Root is, here's a quick tutorial. The Square Root of a number X is a number r, such that r x r = X. For example, the square root of the number 9 is 3 (3x3), 16 is 4 (4x4) and 25 is 5 (5x5) etc. etc............

This unofficial holiday was first publicized by Ron Gordon, a high school teacher from Redwood City , California, 28 years ago on September 9,1981 (9/09/81). Since then, he remains the biggest advocate and celebrates the day in great style.

This year he even organized a world-wide contest to find the most people involved in a Square Root Celebration - the prize? You guessed it - $339 USD.

For those of you looking for ways to celebrate, Ron has a number of ideas - go square dancing, eat square root vegetables (like radishes and carrots), drink root beer from square glasses or tie some square knots (the last two of which he did with his class today).

Whatever you do, be sure to celebrate it, for you will not see it again for another seven years -  and don't forget to tell us what you did, by adding you comments below. Happy Square Root Day!

Sources: insidebayarea.com, wikipedia.com