How can anyone remember 100,000 numbers?

The Japan Times ^ | 12/23/06 | TOMOKO OTAKE

[BlazingArizona]

"Shift to the left, shift to the right
Pop up, push down, byte! byte! byte!"

[IronJack]

When I was in 7th grade and found out what pi was, I sat down and memorized it to 25 decimal places. I still recall it to this day. Numbers and words make sense to me. But I can't for the life of me remember names.

[IronJack]

Man, I need a drink. Alcoholic of course.

Letters in each word:

3 1 4 1 5 2 6

[randog]

No, I've never heard of it--yours?

[IronJack]

Pi is also the name of a very strange movie.

In that movie, the protagonist arrived at the same conclusion this guy did: there IS an order to the universe, and PI is somehow at the center.

Of course, that was BEFORE he took a Black & Decker to his skull ...

[mtbopfuyn]

pi is more than just a vague figure or a mathematical concept -- like zero

Sure, explain that to my checkbook.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

No, I've never heard of it--yours?

No, it's Beckmann's signature work, the thing that got him tenure at Colorado.

[wideminded]

I memorized over 100 digits of pi in 7th grade. I'm a nerd.

[randog]

I suppose it was used extensively for cell phone research...?

[johnthebaptistmoore]

That was the best part of that movie! His increasing insanity caused him to self-lobotomize as the best solution to the problem.

[Centurion2000]

I memorized over 100 digits of pi in 7th grade. I'm a nerd.

3.14159 seems to be more than sufficient for every situation I have ever run across in applied math.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Radar. Actually the closest analog to cell phones that I've seen is troposcatter communications systems. The DoD solved the problem of troposcatter by spending hundreds of millions of dollars. The research trickled down to the civilian world in the form of CDMA and adaptive frequency compensation, without which cells phones would be about as practical as Paul Drake's old dashboard radio telephone.

[JoeGar]

"Shift to the left, shift to the right
Pop up, push down, byte! byte! byte!"

Hit 'em in the left knee,
Hit 'em in the right knee,
Hit 'em in the weenee, weenee, we need a touchdown.

[gcruse]

I can recite pi to 21 digits. There's a reasonably easy to memorize mnemonic making it possible.

[LonePalm]

I don't know which is worse, that I can read and understand this in French or that I recognized it mnemonic for pi.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[litehaus]

at 61 I guess it's too late

---

I resemble that remarque!

[LonePalm]

LG squared, divided by 800 = WP

((L*G)**2)/800 = Wt in pounds
Where,
L = Length in inches
G= Girth in inches

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[Hot Tabasco]

Otherwise, why would anyone want to try to set a world record in reciting 100,000 digits of pi?

Because there ain't no bowling alleys in Chiba...?

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

What French for piem?

[mikrofon]

What do you use to calculate pi to any digit?
A pi-zometer

How do math fraternity brothers address each other?
Pi-san!

What's the favorite fantasy film of mathematicians?
Pi-rates of the Caribbean

What do math guys look for on July 3.1415926rd?
Pi-rotechnics