Dorina Mitrea, Ph.D., Baylor University, Waco, Texas

Homepage(s): ArXiv, Google Scholar, Wikipedia

On opening the mysteries of pi (π):

“Pi is like a universe. It gradually reveals itself to us as we try to understand the very fabric of mathematics. Even now there are many unanswered questions and open problems which are both intriguing and incredibly difficult. It never stops amazing us.”
– Dorina Mitrea, The Magic and Mystery of Pi, March 8, 2023

First email: 21 April 2023 @ 9:10 AM

Dear Prof. Dr. Dorina Mitrea,

The sweet little article, The Magic and Mystery of π (Pi), inspired a look at your homepage, your Wikipedia entry, and your Google scholar docs. There was so much to absorb, I started a reference page for myself:  https://81018.com/mitrea/ (that’s this page)

How very special to have three Mitreas… It is obvious why you all are so productive. Congratulations.

With your affections for those of us who got stuck in high school, thank you for all that extracurricular work. It is always thrilling to meet real scholars who are opening special doors to the unknown. 

I have questions. Might you have the time for a few?*

Thanks again for all that you do and for the work of the others who inspire you!

Warmly,

Bruce

Editor’s Note at 9:25 AM:
Perhaps we’d start with these three.
1. Do the 100 trillion plus, never-ending digits of pi tell us that continuity is somehow both finite and infinite, a “particular-but-universal quality” of the universe?
2. Do the circle and sphere define a perfection (continuity and symmetry, and might that perfection just be a place where we do not find quantum fluctuations?
3. Does the 1820 work by Joseph Fourier open a third facet of pi, harmony, and might the three concresce to become the first infinitesimal sphere at the Planck scale?

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