Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

I once recited 73 digits of pi and won pie. My closest competitor recited 14 digits. Of course, I've never been good at math, so I was a junior competing against a mix of freshman and sophomores, and the not-so-bright ones at that...

I used to be able to do 200, but I'm down to 120 off the top of my head. I always wanted to get to the Feynman point, but never found the time. Back when I used a wallet instead of a money clip, I would keep a card with pi to 700 or so digits to memorize on my downtime.

Yeah, I kept that to myself so I could have friends.

Yeah, the first 100 became a no-brainer for me around my Sophomore or Junior year of high school. Senior year, I broke my high school record with 411. So being at about 1/4 strength makes me feel rusty.
It's fun to ramble off a round 100 during get-to-know-you games (I timed myself and also can get under 14 seconds). I had a paper with a couple thousand digits on the back of my binder for a while so I could study during class (didn't happen very much until about a week before the competition--about half of the 411 was crammed in a few days via putting it to music).
I wonder why I can't remember hearing of Feynman point before, but I think I'm going to make that my goal by the time I graduate BYU.

Well, just blow me out of the water, why don't you all. : P

bobtheenchantedone wrote:Well, just blow me out of the water, why don't you all. : P

It's okay, bob. I can recite...7 digits. Because freshman year I played Pi in a music video and the chorus only went that far. So you're way good compared to meee!

I've got 12 digits! Woohoo!

I can only think of it in ten-digit segments after the 50th digit, generally broken up like 3-3-4. If someone gives me a sequence and doesn't break it up like that, it takes me a long time to figure out where they are.

It was in memorizing pi that I discovered that I perceive sequences of numbers as very beautiful or very ugly. For example, 190-199 I believe is 6446229489, and the 644 622 9489 is a very beautiful sequence because its delicate pattern. 170-179, however, is butt ugly: 8410270193. No semblance of a pattern and 0193 is really ugly by itself.

Right after I discovered this ability, I realized that I should go outside and throw a ball around the yard.

Gimgimno wrote:I can only think of it in ten-digit segments after the 50th digit, generally broken up like 3-3-4. If someone gives me a sequence and doesn't break it up like that, it takes me a long time to figure out where they are.

It was in memorizing pi that I discovered that I perceive sequences of numbers as very beautiful or very ugly. For example, 190-199 I believe is 6446229489, and the 644 622 9489 is a very beautiful sequence because its delicate pattern. 170-179, however, is butt ugly: 8410270193. No semblance of a pattern and 0193 is really ugly by itself.

Right after I discovered this ability, I realized that I should go outside and throw a ball around the yard.

Or maybe get a life, and not hang around online message boards. o_O

Just kidding! We love you here.

Gimgimno wrote:170-179, however, is butt ugly: 8410270193. No semblance of a pattern and 0193 is really ugly by itself.

I actually liked that sequence, though I broke it up from 165-175 so that it's 745-02 841-02. Then it's 70 1938 52. Ah, gotta love pi (translation: I am a total nerd).

I once had a math professor at BYU that accidentally quoted pi as 3.17. The class called the poor senile man on it, and it seemed to me that he had spent so many years dealing with abstract concepts in mathematics that actual numbers didn't have much relevance for him anymore.

Personally, I never got past the first 10 or so. That was enough to impress my high school students, so it was good enough for me. Congrats to you guys! That is amazing.

Gimgimno wrote:I can only think of it in ten-digit segments after the 50th digit, generally broken up like 3-3-4. If someone gives me a sequence and doesn't break it up like that, it takes me a long time to figure out where they are.

It was in memorizing pi that I discovered that I perceive sequences of numbers as very beautiful or very ugly. For example, 190-199 I believe is 6446229489, and the 644 622 9489 is a very beautiful sequence because its delicate pattern. 170-179, however, is butt ugly: 8410270193. No semblance of a pattern and 0193 is really ugly by itself.

Right after I discovered this ability, I realized that I should go outside and throw a ball around the yard.

I seem to recall the world record holder in pi recital associates aesthetic properties to the numbers as well. If remembering numbers can be like walking around recalling memories in a home, with some rooms more comfortable than others, it stands to reason that it would be easier than trying to hold cold flat numbers in mind.

I always picked up rhythms in the numbers, usually three or four numbers long. So I almost sing it.

Tao wrote:I seem to recall the world record holder in pi recital associates aesthetic properties to the numbers as well. If remembering numbers can be like walking around recalling memories in a home, with some rooms more comfortable than others, it stands to reason that it would be easier than trying to hold cold flat numbers in mind.

That's called The Method of Loci. It's supposed to work really well for memorizing anything. I've never actually used it for anything myself, but I may use it to memorize something useful, like all the parts of the missionary discussions in order.

\missionary nerdiness

Happy Pi Day, everyone!