Pi Memorization

[Furcurequs]

I added another 50 digits today, so I now know pi to 151 significant figures. My head hurt all day, too, so today's batch wasn't as easy as the first 101 digits. ...and for part of the day it seemed like some of those were dropping out to make room for the new ones.

3.
14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510
58209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679
82148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128

I think that makes three times in a row that I've gotten all 151 right, so it's time to quit this nonsense! ...sorry.

Okay, I was testing myself to see if I could still remember pi to 151 digits today, and I could rattle the numbers off so fast that I impressed myself! I can remember them about as fast I can speak them.

I then looked online to see what the record was since it looks like I may be good at this, but then I saw that the record was in the tens of thousands of digits! So, I don't plan to ever be that good. I may have some natural ability to remember numbers, but I don't have that sort of dedication.

I did add another 100 digits to my memory this evening, however. So, I'm at least up to 250 (after the decimal point).

I'm not yet too fast with the last 100.

48111745028410270193852110555964462294895493038196
44288109756659334461284756482337867831652712019091

...oops... When I just tested myself I left out a digit (I went back and added it to the above). I guess I'll do a quick refresher tomorrow and firm it up. Trying to add a 100 in an evening was a little much, I guess.

[Fletcher]

Do you have a system you use Dwayne to remember the numbers ? If so what is it that helps you remember hundreds of numbers sequentially ?

I believe that most people can do up to about 6 to 10 without a system (and a little quiet and practice) but to get beyond that requires some sort of organisation. Perhaps into 4 digit groups, or you make up a story/narrative that you then rewind and substitute numbers for figures or characters in the narrative. It would be like the never ending play that has plenty of action and scenes but never a final act so each day you can add to it.

[Furcurequs]

Hey Fletcher,

I was thinking about that this evening. When I looked online, it says that most people apparently do use some sort of story method or some such with this type of memorization.

I personally was just looking at a text file with 50 digits on a line and just adding a few numbers to my memory at a time. As soon as it seems I can remember from the start of the line to the digits I just added, I will add a few more. I seem to be dividing the numbers into random groups of typically 2, 3 or 4 digits each and stringing those together almost like multi-syllable words in a song or sentence or something. There's definitely a rhythm to it. If I start to get hung up, I may also visualize them a bit. I can sort of remember what they look like strung together, I guess.

I'm not visualizing any sort of story or using any sort of mnemonic, though, or adding them to any sort of recognizable tune - I'm just using small groupings of individual digits strung together, it seems.

I'm not sure if there is any rhyme or reason as to how I choose the groupings of digits, either.

I'm definitely thinking of them in major groupings of 50, however.

Just a few months ago I was very impressed with myself for just remembering the 16 digits of my debit card. Apparently, I've been an underachiever. ...lol

I have noticed that I tend to remember numbers and figures from things I read without really trying. Maybe that is somehow related. They just seem to stick with me for the most part.

With the pi memorization, I can rattle off the first 51 digits with the same ease as just counting from 1 to 10, it seems. The other groupings of 50 are a little bit slower, though, and I can have a few moments of slight hesitation. Oh, and I can say the first 51 in one breath!

[Fletcher]

I guess it could be easier for you because you firstly have a keen interest in doing so, and then a reward for the effort. The pat on the back and that extra piece of Pi that you allow yourself. And probably a natural inclination for it.

When I was a kid I remembered all telephone numbers I used more than once. That went on and stuck for decades, and didn't seem to take any effort at all. Probably coz I liked to instantly recall them and amaze the dog. 3 wasn't that many. Pre days of cell phones and personal organisers etc. When they came along the phone numbers went the way of the dodo. Unfortunately it was the only thing I could remember.

Anyways, I'm planning a spot quiz for you, but there will be no prize :)

[Furcurequs]

My brother was more into math than I was, though I also did fairly well, and he would talk about memorizing pi and stuff, and I thought he was a dweeb for doing it. ...lol Now here I am, most of my time on my butt due to my health issues, and I'm doing it too! I wonder how far he got, though? ...haha

I still remember my home phone number and the time and temperature number from my childhood, but not any others. (Actually, I'm still using the bank time and temperature number that I was using maybe 45 years ago.) There weren't very many others anyway, really, but it seems I should be able to remember some of my neighbors' and childhood friends' numbers. Unfortunately, though, they seem to have left me.

Hopefully I'll be ready for your spot quiz. I am a bit curious as to just how long I can retain what I'm memorizing. Do I need to refresh my memory every so often? Will digits start dropping out over time if I don't? Will most all of it leave me eventually? ...as in before dementia sets in?

As I'm adding to the digits, I'm of course refreshing what I've already devoted to memory and so the prior parts seems to get easier and easier, whereas the newer parts take a bit of effort to recall.

Anyway, I think I'll give it up for the night/morning and maybe test myself and/or do a quick refresh tomorrow/or at least later in the day after I've slept.

[Fletcher]

It does intrigue me how humans can have very specialized memory skills in certain areas. And the tenacity like you to keep at it. Mine is not spelling, atrocious. Tho if I took the time to write out the words I get wrong all the time I'm sure it would stick. To lazy and ultimately unmotivated I guess.

You might be interested in the following link about Hungarian chess grandmaster Susan Polgar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Polgar

I saw the doco by National Geographic mentioned.

What was curious to me was that she and her sisters were taught chess board formations by memory from a very early age.

So a blind test was constructed which she did not know about. She was interviewed on a busy NY street corner about something and while this was happening a curtain side truck drove past her with a picture of a chess game in progress on its side. After the interview she was asked if she had noticed the truck and its siding. She searched her memory and then they asked her to reproduce the chess board and placements. She did it with ease. She claimed it was a form of pattern recognition which I have no doubt is how she did it.

The same thing happened some time later except the chess game on the side of the truck had a placement of pieces that was physically impossible apparently. She could remember the truck and picture of the chess board but could not reproduce the positions of all the chess pieces correctly. The inference being that she hadn't been exposed to that chess pattern therefore couldn't drag it up from her RAM.

[daxwc]

I once seen a man in a conference 3 times in six years. He always asked everybody to introduce themselves first thing in the morning. In the afternoon he would get us to stand up and list off verbally from memory all our first names. We were not wearing name tags and rarely did he address us by our first names during the lecture. One of the conferences had around 350 people in it. Only a couple of times did I see him having trouble recalling somebody’s name and only once did I see him get somebody’s name wrong I think due to it was odd sounding (he was close). In fact it took so long I concluded he did it to waste time and gather his hefty fee. Hmmm...wish I could remember his name.

[Furcurequs]

Well, all 251 digits are still there after sleeping, but I'm certainly not as fast reciting the last 100 as the first 151, and I can definitely hesitate in places.

daxwc,

I can be bad about names. So, I'm not sure how I could do with something like you described. I normally don't meet very many people, so I don't really have much experience to go by.

I do know one thing, though. If I don't make the small effort to repeat someone's name back to them or at least sort of say the name in my head when they introduce themselves, I can let a name go in one ear and right out the other.

This happened to me just this past week. My new neighbor introduced himself, and as of now I couldn't tell you for sure what his name is. I get frustrated with myself when I do this too. I do only have to repeat a name to remember it, but I normally don't remember to do that. ...lol

Fletcher,

I think I remember hearing or reading something about her family, but I didn't remember their names either. ...lol

Chess was another thing that my brother was into that I just wasn't. He used to read book after book on chess strategy and he would try to memorize all these supposedly famous opening moves and counter moves. ...and I just couldn't care.

I did crash his high school chess club meetings, though, when they were held at my house. Most of his friends were about 8 years older than me, so I kind of liked hanging out with them. ...but I was more into playing ping pong with them and hearing other stuff they had to talk about than actually playing or talking about chess. ...yuck... ...haha

I can see how it would probably be easier to quickly recognize and later recall a pattern already devoted to memory than to quickly add a new pattern to memory, though. I guess chess - at least for the real competitors - is a lot about recognizing familiar patterns, however. Those chess books my brother read were all about how to recognize different opening moves and board positions and remembering tried and true best ways in countering them. Well, I assume so.

When my brother had his chess books out, I was probably looking for a place to hide so I didn't get dragged into a game. ...lol

Oh, I looked on youtube and apparently my competition for memorizing a few hundred digits of pi would be maybe 6 or 7 year olds. ...lol
I may have them beat on how quickly I can add a few more digits to memory, though. ;P

I was in an all male 3rd grade class as a kid, and our teacher would have us individually come to the front of the class and quiz us on our multiplication table - with him timing us and us actually competing against one another. I think he pointed to positions on the table and we were expected to recall the number that was supposed to be there. So, I guess my number based memory has always been pretty good.

[Furcurequs]

Okay, here's my test. I haven't seen the value of pi for maybe weeks, and I managed not to look at it when posting this.

3.
14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510
58209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679
82148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128
48111745028410270193852110555964462294895493038196
44288109756659334461284756482337867831652712019091

Okay, I've looked over it a few times and hope I don't have any of the lines out of order. I'm about to hit enter and commit...

...now.

[Furcurequs]

I think it checks out. Seems to be in there for good, then.

[Art]

Hang in there Dwayne , when you get up to the 762nd decimal place there are
six 9 's in a row .

They should be easy to remember :)

[Furcurequs]

...lol

How might I remember those 6 9s? I started elementary school in 1969... ...'69! (I had to calculate that by working backwards from my high school graduation date, btw.)

Then there's that Beatle's tune "Number Nine," I think. At least that's the lyrics! I would just have figure out and remember how long to play it to get 6 "number nine"s, I guess. (I'm not sure how to punctuate that.)

...though to be honest, I think I kind of have them memorized already - just dwelling on all this.

I have a feeling it's those numbers between the 250th digit and the 762nd that will be the problem.

I don't have any immediate plans to add to the 250 I know. Who knows, these numbers could be pushing out more important information - maybe.

Heck, I only use pi to 3 significant figures in most of my calculations, anyway. ...and for quick calculations, I sometimes just use the one 3!

...lol

[John Lyndsay]

I got up to nine digits because it ends with the year I was born this time around. I figured I wouldn't need anything more accurate for "most" of my calculations 8^)

[Furcurequs]

3.
141592653 shows 9 digits after the decimal place.

Are you very very old? ...or from the future? ...this time around.

I had to search multiple tables showing the digits of pi before I could find the year I was born. So, I have to go 4,808 digits after the decimal place!!

[Furcurequs]

I decided this morning to test myself to see if I could still remember pi to 250 digits.

...and I was successful!

That's possibly after two months or more without having refreshed my memory, too.

I was a little slow in getting all the digits typed out so that I could check them, I tend to do better and be faster when just reciting them, but I eventually got them all typed out and felt pretty confident about them. ...and then they checked out.