BIDDEFORD – Jon Jacques is a man who loves pi.

“It’s so much more than 3.14,” said Jacques, a teacher at Biddeford High School.

Jacques, who has taught at the school for five years, has become known for how he celebrates Pi Day, or March 14, with a song written about pi.

Pi is a mathematical constant, denoted by the symbol ?, that when used in an equation determines the circumference of a circle. For example, no matter the size of a circle, the circumference is always the diameter times pi.

The tradition began in 2007, when Jacques was working at Sanford High School.

“One day, a student came in and said, ‘Mr. Jacques, don’t you know it’s Pi Day? It’s March 14, three 14,’” Jacques said. “I had never heard of it, but I was inspired.”

Jacques’ inspiration lead him to change course in his intended lesson plan and enthusiastically launch into a lesson about the importance of pi. That day, his first song was born, an on-the-spot collaboration with his class to the tune of “Stand By Me,” by Ben E. King.

“I’ve always loved music, so this was the perfect tie-in for me,” Jacques said. “It’s grown every year.”

The tradition of creating a song to celebrate Pi Day followed Jacques through his career at Sanford High School to his return to Biddeford High School five years ago. Jacques is a Biddeford High School graduate, class of 1995, and is happy to bring his passion for math back to his hometown, where he teaches Algebra 1, Trigonometry, Calculus and STEM courses.

While in the past the songs chosen to parody have been older, this year Jacques chose a song still on the radio, “High Hopes” by Panic at the Disco.

“I’m hoping a more current song will get more kids to listen and learn from it,” Jacques said.

Another change made over the last three years is the involvement with the Biddeford High School chorus, lead by Chris Farrell. Previously the songs would be written and performed exclusively by Jacques, now he writes the song in December and passes it along to the choir to perform for a video to allow even more student involvement. This year’s video was recorded in January and is being edited by a student, so they final product will be a surprise even to Jacques himself.

“It’s exciting. I’m sure that it’s going to be just amazing,” said Jacques, breaking out into a wide grin. “Chris (Farrell) is a great partner to have on this project, and the choir makes suggestions and collaborates with me on little changes that need to be made. They sound beautiful too.”

Pi is an infinite number that continues on indefinitely without repeating. However, for most students (and adults) pi is only known as 3.14. In reality, the number pi begins 3.1415926535897932384 and continues on from there.

For his 2016 song, Jacques borrowed from the Michael Jackson song “Thriller,” to help students memorize the number, using the already catchy chorus to get the numbers to stick in their heads. Other past song parodies include “Pi pi pi,” to the tune of “Bye Bye Bye” by NSYNC and “Pi-Rational Rhapsody,” based on Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

“And I’ll teach you math, here we go, learning pi, we’ll go slow. Three point one four one five, show you how it matters to me, to me,” sings Jacques in “Pi-Rational Rhapsody.”

In true spring-in-Maine fashion, Jacques is crossing his fingers that this year there will actually be school on Pi Day.

“We’ve had snow days for the last two years in a row on the 14th, and when you’ve put in that much work, it’s really a let down,” Jacques said. “So far the weather looks good, but I don’t want to jinx it.”

To further the celebration, a favorite event in all his classes, he will provide actual pies to his classes, donated from Reilly’s Bakery on Main Street. As an added touch, Reilly’s will usually put a pi symbol on the pies to tie in to the event.

“It’s nice to do something different,” said Jacques, who, with student, will spend class time on March 14 watching the video and do exercises using pi. “It’s cool to get kids excited about math.”

To view past videos and learn more about pi, visit Jacques’ website at www.pi-guy.org, which will be updated with the new Pi Day video after March 14.

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