Road Sign Math

David Slauenwhite brings his 6th state to Road Sign Math, with the help of Doug Kerr who actually took the photo. Delaware is a very small state, but it’s first sign is massive! This sign sets a new record for the most numbers on any sign assemblage with 14 (beating Woodstock’s 12). It’s also a pi sign with amazing accuracy!

Mr. Slauenwhite was tantalized by the 896 divided by 273. This gave 3.282 and left him 12 numbers to work with. It is worth noting that Slauenwhite has introduced a new strategy for deriving constants. All previous constants were done with one operation, typically one number over another yielding an acceptable approximation of the constant. In this sign, he gets a number close to the value, and then homes in on it using very amounts to nudge the output where he wants it. Briliant! The math here practically requires a computer to work out, let’s get to it.

{896\over273}-{{141-95}\over{202+141}}-{{5+1}\over{7\times9\times13}}+{3\over{5^5}} \approx 3.141574 \approx \pi

This sign is on southbound I-95 in Delaware, where I-295 splits off. The GPS coordinates are approximately N39 42 59.0 W75 34 58.2. See sign on map!