Pi or Die : Help me Figure this One Out
Ok, so I just got back from a week’s vacation in Cape Cod with my wife, kids, and extended family. One of the upsides (and downsides) of having a father who’s a mathematician is that we tend to pass the time on the beach waiting for the ice-cream truck, thinking about weird things, some of which become hard problems that obsess us and spawn heated debate.
Here is the current one. My father mentioned that a friend of his, a Hungarian mathematician, had performed a public “feat of mental strength” by reciting 1000 sequential digits of Pi. Since Pi’s digits are probably random (read this classic Richard Preston piece about renegade mathematican brothers, the Chudnofsky’s for more), this represents a truly staggering feat.
So, I ask, imagine the following scenario: You have 1 year to prepare to recite the digits of Pi. At the time of your recital, an explosive device is wired to your head (we need some drama for motivation) which will detonate if you halt or make a mistake. Can you devise a method that makes the task acheivable? Please describe. I will weight in with my (and my Dad’s) thoughts, as the process unfolds. Please help — this is a really hard one. If we really come up with a good idea, I might just commit to doing it (without the detonation device, of course 
)
August 12th, 2008 at 9:43 am
After the decimal point (3point…) memorize 100 ten digit numbers or 200 five digit numbers
August 12th, 2008 at 11:51 am
You just have to know it I guess. Groups of 10 worked best for me.
3.1415926535 8979323846 2643383279 5028841971 6939937510 5820974944 5923078164 0628620899 8628034825 3421170679 8214808651 3282306647 0938446095 5058223172 5359408128 4811174502 8410270193 8521105559 6446229489 5493038196 4428810975 6659334461 2847564823 3786783165 2712019091 4564856692 3460348610 4543266482 1339360726 0249141273 7245870066 0631558817 4881520920 9628292540 9171536436 7892590360 0113305305 4882046652 1384146951 9415116094 3305727036 5759591953 0921861173 8193261179 3105118548 0744623799 6274956735 1885752724 8912279381 8301194912 9833673362 4406566430 8602139494 6395224737 1907021798 6094370277 0539217176 2931767523 8467481846 7669405132 0005681271 4526356082 7785771342 7577896091 7363717872 1468440901 2249534301 4654958537 1050792279 6892589235 4201995611 2129021960 8640344181 5981362977 4771309960 5187072113 4999999837 2978049951 0597317328 1609631859 5024459455 3469083026 4252230825 3344685035 2619311881 7101000313 7838752886 5875332083 8142061717 7669147303 5982534904 2875546873 1159562863 8823537875 9375195778 1857780532 1712268066 1300192787 6611195909 2164201989
August 12th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
As described, it’s not possible (”recite the digits of Pi”) - because they never end. You’d inevitably sneeze, yawn, hiccup or fall asleep - and eventually, everyone will have gone home anyways. You’d be standing there reciting PI to yourself for eternity.
If it had been restricted to the first 100 or so, we could talk about mnemonic devices like a “Pi Song” - but who could sing with a bomb on their head?
August 12th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Are you sure you got enough of a vacation, Reuben?
August 12th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
My suggestion is to put it to music. It’s amazing how well you can remember stuff when you put it to music.
August 12th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
put it to music:
here’s an example from a few years back…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC1qkLn6IRI
Nations of the world, by the Animaniacs
August 12th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Thanks for all the suggestions! Of all of the solutions posed, I think James’ is the most plausible, but I’m still concerned for the following reason. Nation names are one thing, and let’s just say there are 200 of them. Digits lack meaning, so we’ll need to construct some sort of pnemonic code to impart meaning, right?
What about visual pairings and colors?
August 13th, 2008 at 4:35 am
Gee the solution was waiting for you on seesmic — it really is a simple song to memorize — http://seesmic.com/#/video/wYbDATayBO/watch http://pi.ytmnd.com/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqpWETqoD5Q doohhhhh!
August 15th, 2008 at 8:50 am
http://tinyurl.com/dskey
palindromes, internal songs, repetitions, recitation - I think the major key is perseverance. Maybe a way to approach this quandry is to try it! I bet by next Friday you could easily memorize the first 40 digits of Pi. Perhaps from there, the quest will never end. The American record holder recited two digits per second for an hour and 23 minutes. And voila! he’s at over 10,000. - Gregor
August 17th, 2008 at 9:43 am
You’ll certainly need a narrative of some sort. I think I would associate each of the ten digits with a very short and common word, for example 2=to and 1=a 4=for etc, then write a story that surrounds those keywords. The story could then be made highly memorable, perhaps with some rhyming.
There was a wonderful book about the Holocaust, where the names of those killed were remembered by people who formed their names into a song. I wish I could remember the name of the book. If only I had a method…