From math books to bonfires — that’s just the beginning of how two Kent State graduate students celebrate Pi Day.

March 14, or 3/14 is an unofficial holiday representing the first three digits of pi, 3.14, the mathematical ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. But for Allen Cox, part-time instructor and graduate student in mathematics, and his roommate, the celebration goes a bit further.

“Last year, we had a bunch of old math books from undergrad that we weren’t using, so we started barbecuing those,” Cox said. “Once you have a bonfire, you kind of have to cook something over it.”

New York strip steak — 3.1 ounces of it to be exact — was the choice, he said, but more of a concession because it was just too hard to get 3.14 ounces.

“We were also trying to think of some music we could play related to pi, and we tried to use “A Beautiful Mind’s” soundtrack, but it wasn’t quite right,” Cox said. “The soundtrack from the Darren Aronofski film “Pi” became the obvious choice.”

Cox said he and his roommate finished off the evening’s celebration like they plan to again this year — with a “Pi Thrown on the Rocks.”

“We thought it would be ritualistic if we took the drippings from our steaks and added it to some bourbon,” Cox said. “We got kind of an idea for it because there was a YouTube series where they added bacon drippings to whiskey, and we were like, ‘Oh, we should just do that with steak.’ Same thing, only probably a little bit cleaner.”

This year, the roommates said they plan to get more textbooks to burn from math department professors discarding old books and journals. But if bonfires and pi songs aren’t what light your fire for the mathematical holiday, these easy pie recipes might be just enough to do the trick.

Microwave Mug Pie

1 large apple, peeled and chunked

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 graham cracker squares

Mix the peeled and chunked apples with brown sugar, cinnamon and 1 tablespoon butter. Place the mixture in a large microwavable mug, and microwave for 2 minutes. Mix and microwave for an additional minute or until apples are soft.

Crush the graham cracker squares and mix with 1 tablespoon melted butter. Sprinkle over the apple mixture and enjoy!

Crockpot Cobbler

2, 21-ounce cans of pie filling (any type)

1 box white cake mix

1 stick butter

Empty the cans of pie filling into the crock pot. Sprinkle the cake mix powder over the fruit, and lay the stick of butter on top of it. Turn the crock pot on high heat for approximately two hours, or low heat for approximately four hours, or until the cake mix browns and is heated through.

Contact Emily Inverso at [email protected].