Pi is an unusual symbol to see displayed as graffiti and I was intrigued by this when I saw it. Pi, the number π is a mathematical constant, the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, approximately equal to 3.14159, which is subject to infinite refinement hence there is no perfect circle (we will never know the ultimate Pi). A Socratic Circle, on the other hand, is about working together to construct meaning and arrive at an answer that can be agreed upon. Thus, in some way we can begin to deduce the difference between the mathematician and the philosopher. Of course the poet is a different matter. He or she can only assume they are giving meaning and they don't even ask for agreement, they just expect you to at least try to understand what is being said. All very confusing I guess and then we realise that mathematicians and poets have more in common than we think. But imagine a poet and philosopher and mathematician going into a bar, the philosopher says look at the perfect circle that beer glass has left on the table, the mathematician says, its not perfect, it can never be so, and the poet, well he took a long swig of his beer then said, squaring the circle is for dreamers. As Auden writes, 'When we genuinely speak, we do not have the words ready to do our bidding; we have to find them, and we do not know exactly what we are going to say until we have said it.' I like a bit of Pi, its food for heroes:
