What is the pi symbol?

December 21, 2006 3:18 PM

For those of you who live in Western Washington: For the last 5 years or so, I've noticed graffitied pi symbols all around the Seattle area (North to Everett and South to Tacoma). What is up?

There are at least 2 in every neighborhood that I've found. They are on signs, walls, trash cans, newspaper dispensers, sidewalks, bus stops, and everywhere else. No one seems to have an answer for what the purpose of them is? Is it a nerdy gang? Is it an art project? Is it just a meme? It's been driving me crazy since high school. Does anybody have any insight? Is this just a Western Washington thing?

posted by Holygrail2 to society & culture (21 comments total)

Do you mean these?
posted by vacapinta at 3:25 PM on December 21, 2006

That might be a version of them, but the ones I'm thinking of are usually much cruder. Like they're done with a sharpie or fingernail polish and aren't usually that bubble-letterish
posted by Holygrail2 at 3:28 PM on December 21, 2006

Oh, but hey if you use that same website and add "seattle" after pi and graffiti, you see some examples of it.
posted by Holygrail2 at 3:30 PM on December 21, 2006

1. Seattle is a pretty nerdy place, and pi is a fairly universally nerdy symbol ("e" might get confused with something else).

2. Film and film-culture are big out here too. Two that come to mind are pi and the net. IIRC, the net had a scene in which someone clicked on a "pi" character on some website in order to "hack" into it.

3. There is, or was, a giant "pi" sculpture down by the Harbor Steps apartments. I don't know if it is still there.
posted by b1tr0t at 3:44 PM on December 21, 2006

FWIW, I've seen these in Philly too, though they're not so prevalent there. It seems like the sort of idea that lots of nerds might think of independently, though.
posted by nebulawindphone at 3:47 PM on December 21, 2006

I imagine it's Just Another Tagger, whose tag happens to be a little more recognisable/memorable to you than that of most taggers.
posted by -harlequin- at 3:52 PM on December 21, 2006

Perhaps it's an assertion that the ratio of a circle's diameter to its circumference is sufficiently street.
posted by rocketman at 3:54 PM on December 21, 2006 [5 favorites]

I've stopped noticing the pi tags. It's the 1+1=3 ones that bug me now.
posted by hades at 3:58 PM on December 21, 2006

Did I dream that someone once told me they were to mark free WiFi spots?? like hoboes would chalk the sides of friendly houses? Then again, I've seen them in really weird places that don't seem computer-user-y.
posted by tristeza at 4:24 PM on December 21, 2006

I think they are wifi spots too.
posted by fshgrl at 4:33 PM on December 21, 2006

It's the 1+1=3 ones that bug me now.

Oh! Bad Math! I'm kind of amused by Bad Math's.
posted by susanbeeswax at 4:39 PM on December 21, 2006

They've been around since 2001 and probably before that. How many wi-fi spots could there have been 5 years ago? But then again it is Seattle. I kind of don't believe that, though.
posted by Holygrail2 at 4:53 PM on December 21, 2006

There were WiFi hotsopts in 2001, but pi isn't the warchalking symbol for a hotspot.
posted by b1tr0t at 4:55 PM on December 21, 2006

I was going to point to a friend's Flickr picture, but then I realized that Vacapinta's link shows the same SF-area pi graffiti.
posted by misterbrandt at 8:10 PM on December 21, 2006

They predate most if not all WiFi hotspots, and they really are everywhere. If it's one tagger the guy must be all over the place.

This is something that lots of us have noticed for a long time and unfortunately, I have no idea what it's about.
posted by litlnemo at 1:34 AM on December 22, 2006

It's the 1+1=3 ones that bug me now.

Why? It's not unreasonable
posted by mooders at 2:55 AM on December 22, 2006

The Net used a Pi symbol as a central part of the plot, and kids being kids, it was emulated in a number of places.

Anyway, a couple of the flicker photos have dots after them, and not always the same number. Does this hold true for the ones you all have been seeing?
posted by jwells at 4:54 AM on December 22, 2006

There's some stuff online about/from "Pi Crew" - seems to be a group of taggers. My guess is this is them, or a chapter of the Pi Crew. Also a lot of comments here regarding the Pi Crew.
posted by TochterAusElysium at 10:41 AM on December 22, 2006

I dated a girl, for like a week, who would write e^π*i+1=0 on friggin everything. Yep, that was probably the coolest thing about her. But she was just so fascinated with the formula -- and wanted to show off her juicy math brain, I'm sure...

Also, it occurs to me that π is a pretty cool symbol to tag, just in terms of three flowing strokes.
posted by LordSludge at 11:37 AM on December 22, 2006

LordSludge, are you talking about a girl who's now in a graduate program at Penn? Because if so, said girl now has e^πi tatooed on her right shoulder.
posted by dmd at 7:02 PM on December 22, 2006

It's probably this guy.
posted by deborah at 3:25 PM on December 23, 2006