Fun With Pi

"My memorization of pi was not an isolated stunt, but part of an overall campaign to become truly fluent with numbers. Undoubtedly, this helped lead me toward a deeper appreciation of numbers of all sizes." (Metamagical Themas, 134)

In other words, some people memorize pi not to show off, but to gain a profound understanding of randomness and large numerals in general. Saying that pi is 3.14 without addressing the fact that it goes on infinitely afterward overlooks the true essence of the number. To me, pi represents the beauty of mathematics, the beauty of the world we live in. This unatainable, irrational, transcendental number is used to describe the perfect symmetry of circles and spheres. Memorizing pi is a step forward in the search for a pattern in pi, and in general, for finding regularity in chaos. Mathematics searches for logical rules, but pi seems to have a logic of its own. Remember: if you can't tame the chaos ruling pi's digits, it's still great for shock value ;-)

If you think you've memorized a lot of digits of pi, try 42,000. Hiroyuki Goto set this unbelievable record in 1995. It took him a little more than 9 hours to get it all out. To some people, even 50 digits is a challenge. Hey, sometimes I can't even remember my locker combination. But the 150 digits of pi that I memorized since seventh grade are still with me, even though I only only add to this record on an occasion like Pi Day.

How, you ask, should a person go about memorizing pi? Some people write and memorize poetry, the number of letters in each word corresponding to a digit of pi. It is my personal opinion that the best way to memorize pi is to find a rhythm, even a song, that the numbers seem to fit. A tune that works rather well is the Unchained Melody. Try belting out the digits of pi next time you're in the mood for this type of music




The Music of Pi

If you're musically inclined, you might appreciate memorizing pi to the tune of... pi. If middle C is 1, D is 2, E is 3, up to higher D = 9, the following melody results:


If that's not harmonious enough, try the same arrangement in a minor key:


For the really ambitious, this arrangement was made by Daniel Cummerow of the Sound of Mathematics website. Using Olivier Messiaen's special musical alphabet, where each letter of the alphabet corresponds to a specific note beyond the standard ABCDEFG, he mapped 255 digits of pi onto the following, which sounds pretty eerie. Even more pious, it lasts exactly 3"14'.


Also by Daniel Cummerow, here is pi in "Four Parts in A Harmonic Minor"



What You Probably Didn't Know About Pi

How many people out there have used pi in a math formula? At least everyone who's taken Algebra I. It's used so much in math classes, but certain aspects of it are never presented in the classroom. The symbol has also been used for non-mathematical reasons:



Pi is...
*the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet

*the ratio of a circle to a square when one side of the square is the circle's radius

*the equivalent of 180 degrees when measured in radians

*the name of a movie by Darren Aronofsky (Buy it!)

*the name of a perfume (scroll down for more information)

*at the end of most Macintosh source codes

*known to be over 5 billion digits long

*only memorized to the 42,000 digit as of 1997

*calculated by some of the most important mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers in history

Wait- did you say Pi is a perfume?

Why yes! Givenchy, the French perfume manufactures, are using Pi as a symbol of man's quest for the unknown. The concept is excellent if "man" is being used to represent humans in general. As a woman, I strongly resent Givenchy's further claim that pi represents the "eternally masculine." I am appalled at their assumption that only men are searching the unknown, especially since women have contributed so much to mathematics as well. It is my belief that this perfume should be unisex, or at least have a feminine variety. Of course, the following excerpt from their website shows exactly how much thought has been put into their product:

"This letter of the Greek alphabet is used in mathematics to express the constant ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, i.e., 3.1416."

they have absolutely no right to round that 5 to a 6!

Fun With Pi

There are many things you can do to celebrate pi. For starters:
*See how many digits you can memorize in one day

*Find a song that fits the first hundred digits

*Make an ASCII picture using only the first 100-300 digits of pi

*(girls only, unless you REALLY want to...)Paint a digit of pi on each nail

*Search for your birthday in pi

*Buy an apple pi and carve a pi sign into it

*Dial 314-1592 and see if anyone actually picks up

*Send a Pi Day card to a friend on March 14th

*Visit Savannah, Georgia because its zip code is 31415

*Find out if the post office in Savannah knows the significance of its zip code

*Assume that the letter A will equal the number 1, and go through the alphabet like that. Now, write down some digits of pi, and start decoding

*Write a pi poem using mathematically pleasing words

*Sew a quilt with pi signs

Pious Tapestries



Left: A very informative piece by Sharon Benton
Right: An asthetically pleasing quilt by Mona Wilkerson

Famous Quotes of Piety

"This mysterious 3.14159...which comes in at every door and window and down every chimney."--August de Morgan

"It would almost appear as if its very simplicity had been the grand obstacle which had hiterto stood in the way of its discovery."--James Smith

"Pi is not just a collection of random digits. Pi is a journey; an experience; unless you try to see the natural poetry that exists in pi, you will find it very difficult to learn."--Antranig Basman

"Cosine, secant, tangent, sine
3.14159
Integral, radical, u dv,
slipstick, slide rule,
MIT!"--Massachusetts Institute of Technology football cheer

"Someone in the universe communicates by...mathematics?...How can you hide a message inside pi? It's built into the fabric of the universe."--Carl Sagan's Contact

"The mysterious and wonderful pi is reduced to a gargle that helps computing machines clear their throats."--Philip J. Davis

"Math's never a piece of cake, but sometimes it's just as easy as pi"--annonymous

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