E-Day 2023: Date, History, Facts about STEM Workers

On e-Day, February 7, pull out your TI-87 calculator and locate the button that supports logarithmic and exponential functions daily. While you may not be familiar with e, you are undoubtedly familiar with its more well-known relative, pi. Similarly to pi, e is an unexplainably recurring number in mathematics. It has an infinite series of decimal points, beginning with 2.718281828 and continuing forever. This holiday is observed on February 7 due to the fact that the date contains the same numbers as e rounded to the nearest tenth.

HISTORY OF E-DAY

This intricate algebraic puzzle has been pondered for over 400 years, but it has only been fully understood and characterised for the past 300. It initially appeared in 1618 in the works of Scottish mathematician John Napier as a hazy reference. In a roundabout manner, Napier hinted at the possibility of a recurring constant by sharing a number of logarithms he had solved using the number, but he did not reveal the number itself, to the chagrin of many of his readers.

Later, in 1683, Jacob Bernoulli was formally credited with discovering the analytical gem when he sought to find the solution to a general logarithmic equation, and the solution was e. In their regular contact, followers of Bernoulli obscured the number b for a brief period. In 1731, Leonhard Euler assigned the initial letter of his surname to the constant and definitively designated it as the foundation of all logarithmic expressions. In honour of Euler, the constant is still referred to as e.

While the origin of e-Day cannot be linked to a specific calculus enthusiast and the duration of its celebration is unknown, we can see the reasoning behind allocating this weight-bearing numeral to its digit twin. In 2018, a student at the University of Portland found that the date, 2/7/18, was also the first four digits of the cherished constant. Analytical brains around the world were smugly pleased by this observation, and constant e may have been celebrated more than ever before as many math-inclined minds debated the calendar coincidence. If you wish to join the mathematical brotherhood, visit Scholaroo for a listing of mathematics scholarships.

5 FACTS ABOUT STEM WORKERS THAT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND

Graduates with degrees in science, technology, engineering, and/or mathematics (i.e. STEM) earn an average of 26% more than their similarly educated peers.

Approximately 25% of STEM workers are women.

STEM encompasses all medical areas, including nursing, surgery, and physical and occupational therapy.

While certain STEM fields, such as medicine and technology, have an abundance of qualified applicants, others, such as nuclear engineering, have a significant shortage of potential new workers.

Professionals in the field of child development assert that cooking, construction, and grocery shopping are the best activities for fostering a STEM interest in youngsters (i.e. money management).

E-DAY DATES