Not a world record, but a pleasant afternoon nonetheless: on Tuesday afternoon 3 March, at 3:14 p.m., around five hundred people stood in the shape of Pi on the sports field at X. It was a festive celebration of the number Pi and the retirement of mathematics professor Kees Vuik.
The record attempt on the sports fields of X, with retiring professor Kees Vuik in the light blue shirt at the front left. (Photo: Max van Dongen)
A beach volleyball player looks up in surprise from his game as the football pitch next to him fills with cheerful people dressed in blue. He is witnessing an attempt to form the largest human π symbol in the world and set a world record.
‘We’re going for a national record’
That record stands at 2,036 participants. By the start on Tuesday afternoon, 3 March, at exactly 3:14 p.m., 554 people had registered – a respectable number, but not enough for a world title. “If we don’t succeed, we’ll going for a national record,” says co-organiser Julia van den Boogert. No attempt has ever been made in the Netherlands before, “so we’ve got that one in the bag for sure,” she jokes.
A colourful collection of participants
How do you get a few hundred people to form a Pi? The symbol is taped out on the football field, and all participants have to stand within the lines. By calculating how much space one person needs, the symbol could be drawn out for 500 participants.
The blue crowd turns out to be a colourful collection of participants. Nynke, an academic counsellor at the Faculty of Applied Sciences, saw the announcement of the record attempt in a newsletter and came to have fun with her colleagues. Former central student counsellor John Stals has been participating in random events more often since his retirement. He previously helped with the toad migration, and now he is part of Pi.
Waving to the drone
A bit further ahead, Jaiden and Tim from Pijnacker are waiting for the big moment. They have no connection to TU Delft or mathematics, but ended up here via a TikTok by Leiden mathematics student Lars Pos. “We’ve both dropped out of our studies and now we have a lot of spare time, so we thought, why not?” The TikTok has already been shared 868 times, which seems to be a lot more than the amount of people standing around them.
‘We thought it would be fun team building’
The moment has arrived. At 3:14 p.m., a drone buzzes into the air to capture the symbol from above (see the footage). We look up and wave. “It’s a bit uncomfortable that we have to look into the sun, I can’t see anything,” Anna remarks. The Delft mathematics student has come to the attempt with fellow students and recognises many of her lecturers around her.
Staff from the ME faculty are also taking part. Nelie, Esther and Barbara from Education and Student Affairs tried to get their colleagues excited about it. “We thought it would be fun team building event!” But not everyone was convinced: for some, not having any blue clothes proved to be a handy excuse to stay in the office.
When the drone landed again, Kees Vuik was presented with a certificate in honour of the record attempt. The world record was not broken, but that seemed to be a minor detail. Afterwards everyone chatted over drinks in the spring sunshine. No world record, but a successful afternoon nonetheless.
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