For many years, I’ve been interested in the challenge of memorising as many digits
of Pi as possible. I’ve now finished memorising the first 100 decimal places:
3.14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 37510 58209 74944 59230 78164 06286 20899 86280 34825 34211 70679
Obviously, you need some sort of technique to memorise all those digits! Some people use piphilology –
memorising specially constructed sentences or poems, in which the number of letters in each word is equal to the corresponding digit of Pi. However, reciting digits of Pi which
have been memorised in this way is a very slow process, since you must count up the total number of letters in each word as you go along.
Instead, I prefer to memorise Pi by looking for patterns in the sequence of digits, and grouping the digits into blocks. The table below shows my own technique for memorising the
first 100 decimal places.
- Important repeated digits in each block are coloured blue. These digits are the key to memorising the block.
- Digits which link one block to the next have a pink background . These digits help you remember what the next block is.
So let’s get started!
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Everyone knows the first five decimal places  |
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Remember the repeated 5. |
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These... |
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...three... |
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...blocks of four digits each have a repeated digit. |
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The 4 links the previous block to this block. This block also has three 3s in it. |
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This is the start of a linked chain of five blocks. This block starts with 2... |
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...and so does this one. |
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This block has a repeated 9... |
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...and this block has a nice repeating 3. |
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This is the final block in this chain. |
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Here’s a nice repeating pattern of 9 and 4. To memorise the 59, I remember that the last three digits form a sum: 4 + 5 = 9. |
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A short block which stands on its own, before the next chain of blocks. |
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A very nice chain... |
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...of three blocks... |
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...each with a repeated digit and two linking digits. |
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A little 0 all on its own! |
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The 5 at the end of this block... |
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...combined with this block almost makes 543211, but with the 4 and 3 swapped. |
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A repeated 7 to finish the 100 decimal places. We’re done! |
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Jake
22 Jun 2009
United States |
cool |
annie
11 Aug 2009
United Kingdom |
i've been tryin to learn it as well, so far i have memorised pi to 60 decimal places... wish me luck on my quest to 100 ! |
(Anonymous)
11 Sep 2009
Australia |
Very useful!!! |
miles
29 Sep 2009
United States |
sorry ur advice did not help me cuz im at 200. |
Jack
4 Nov 2009
United Kingdom |
I saw youre page around mid-april and, thanks to you i learnt the first 100.
Now I can remember 470! |
Chris
8 Nov 2009
United Kingdom |
I have insomnia, and so spend my nights doing things like this to pass the time after all my mates have gone to bed.
I memorised Pi to 100 decimal places in about an hour and a half. ...no joke.
I use something called the 'Peg System' to turn numbers into words and then turn those words into a story, and thats my way of remembering it. For example:
14 = lorry
15 = laugh
92 = gun
92 = boffin
"there was a LORRY driver LAUGHING as he fired his GUN at the BOFFIN..."
Its a great way of remembering numbers, and once you get used to turning the numbers into words, you can easily remember long numbers.
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(blank)
15 Nov 2009
Australia |
very useful, thanks a lot, although i can allready remember pie to 263 |
mr. sad face
20 Jan 2010
United Kingdom |
aww i thought i was doing okay and all cos i can remember up to 100 but there's so many people who now like more than 200 ..:( darn it. |
tom
26 Jan 2010
United Kingdom |
Chris - that really interests me but why would 92 be both gun and boffin? |
Michael Hogg
27 Jan 2010 |
Tom - I think Chris made a mistake. I think "boffin" should have been 65.
Then the sequence "lorry, laugh, gun, boffin" would represent 14 15 92 65 (the first eight decimal places of Pi). |
Alix
24 Feb 2010
United Kingdom |
"Pi is exactly three!" |
Bob
9 Mar 2010
United Kingdom |
Alix, are you quoting Kings? :P Verse 7:23 i believe...
anyway! I will try this, thanks :) |
hey there
11 Mar 2010
United States |
omg thanks so much I remembered 50 in a day |
