March 14, 2020 is the first "International Mathematics Day". The nickname of this festival is "Pi Dai"-the reason why the International Mathematics Day is set in March 14 is also because "3. 14" is the closest number to pi. Previously, the mathematics community also celebrated pi day, but this time 14 is designated as the International Mathematics Day every March, and it was officially announced at the 40th General Conference of UNESCO on 2019+065438+1October 26th.

The project of "International Mathematics Day" was initiated by the International Mathematical Union, an international academic organization with a long history. The organization said that the move was to celebrate "the beauty and importance of mathematics in our daily life". To celebrate the first International Mathematics Day, more than 1000 countries around the world announced1000 activities. However, COVID-19 has brought uncertainty to the holding of these events. The press conference on March 13 arranged by UNESCO was also cancelled due to the epidemic.

Bedouelle, the organization's assistant director-general of natural science, said: "The technical application of mathematics has laid the foundation for all areas of our lives today." According to the statistics of UNESCO, as of March 10, nearly 363 million students from preschool education to higher education in the world were affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, and 20% of students in preschool education and basic education and 25% of students in higher education were suspended.

In Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America, 15 countries have implemented nationwide school closures. Christian Rousseau, the initiator of International Mathematics Day and a professor at the University of Montreal in Canada, said: "Mathematics is a research field that runs through human history. Today, mathematics has developed into a very complex tool, so that most people don't even notice its ubiquity in our lives. " "In my opinion, it is long overdue to set up an international math day."