2. Appreciate Math Across New York City

Redstone Rocket-Grand Central Terminal-1957-NYC-4Image via Wikimedia Commons: Chrysler Corporation and US Army

The number pi (3.14…) is very interesting, but one must not forget that it all has to do with circles. “Get around” to reading our Cities 101 column, highlighting the distinction between a “traffic circle” and a “roundabout.”

There’s also famous mathematical myth that has been perpetuated as urban lore by even notable tour guides and historians. It’s about the Redstone rocket in Grand Central Terminal, erected by the US military as a piece of showmanship to counter the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik. The Redstone was displayed in the terminal in 1957 for three weeks. This widely spread false fact is that the Redstone was so tall, it bore a hole through the top of Grand Central Terminal’s ceiling. The myth even goes as far to suggest that a hapless engineer didn’t do the math correctly. But this, as you can see in vintage photographs, was not the case.

Read more about the myth here and go see the hole for yourself on an upcoming tour of the Secrets of Grand Central Terminal:

Tour of the Secrets of Grand Central Terminal