How to Remember Pi to 15 Digits

Science
How to Remember Pi to 15 Digits

By Gareth Branwyn

Gareth Branwyn

Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. And he has a new best-of writing collection and “lazy man’s memoir,” called Borg Like Me.

View more articles by Gareth Branwyn
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By way of sci-fi author and mathenaut Rudy Rucker’s Facebook wall comes this:

One way to remember the first few digits of pi is to count the letters in the words of this phrase:

“How I need a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics.”

[Image via FreakingNews]

12 thoughts on “How to Remember Pi to 15 Digits”

  1. Tim says:

    Well….if you ever get pulled over and are asked to participate in the road-side olypimcs, you can verify your sobriety this way :-D

  2. Russell says:

    that was the phrase we were taught by our math teacher at high school in the 70s. i’ve never forgotten the value of Pi even after 35+ years and lots of alcoholic drinks

  3. ka1axy says:

    I memorized it to 8 places when we had 8-digit calculators. I have to say that memorizing the digits wasn’t all that hard, and I’ve never needed more precision than that. But it’s a neat party trick, I guess.

  4. prometheusgr says:

    I can remember up to 75… http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/pi-high/d6e19148-5f11-4607-9d69-a954a944febf

  5. eric says:

    I learned the geekier:

    Now I sing a silly roundelay
    Of Radial roots and utter ‘lackaday’
    Euclidean results imperfect are, my boy
    Mnemonic arts employ!

    That makes me good to 21. Never yet found a use for it!

  6. Carl O'Keeffe says:

    3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197 39 decimal places and you would never need any greater accuracy, then again creating a circle that encompasses the known universe which is accurate to a hydrogen atoms width is a bit OTT

  7. Dru Morgan says:

    Key word, “known” Universe. What happens when we learn more about the Universe. What kind of circle will we get THEN, Huh??? Yeah, you didn’t think about that, did you? We would be screwed.

    1. Carl O'Keeffe says:

      Still OTT and as irrational as the number itself :)

  8. Karl says:

    works great assuming you can spell properly, if you cant spell in your head what good is knowing pi going to do you?

  9. tatagathaMarc says:

    I think the best way to remember pi is to start with Tau and divide by 2.

  10. Derek says:

    “Now I will a rhyme construct, By chosen words the young instruct. Cunningly devised endeavour, Con it and remember ever. Widths in circle here you see, Sketched out in strange obscurity.”

  11. MrSuSu says:

    Thank you for sharing. I memorized 512 digits of Pi easily by this two new memorization techniques, they are very unique and work for most people –> https://mrsusu.com/memorize-pi-number

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By Gareth Branwyn

Gareth Branwyn

Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. And he has a new best-of writing collection and “lazy man’s memoir,” called Borg Like Me.

View more articles by Gareth Branwyn
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