Fifth Grade
Worksheets
Square Root Day
Math fans loved March 3, 2009. It was called Square Root Day. Square Root Day happens only nine times in a century. Square Root Day is not an official holiday. Math lovers celebrate anyway!
A California high school teacher named Ron Gordon created the day for 9/9/81. According to Scientific American, this day is when "the numbers of the calendar align so that the month and the day are each equal to the square root of the year." March 3, 2009, can be written as 3/3/09. Three times three equals nine. This makes this date a square root day. Gordon held a contest to find the most people who were having a square root celebration. The prize was, not surprisingly, the sum of $339. It was divvied up among the winners.
How do people celebrate this day? Some people cut root vegetables into square cross sections. Root vegetables include radishes, carrots, beets, and turnips. These vegetables literally become "square roots." Other people drink root beer out of square glasses. Still others practice tying square knots. Others go square dancing!
