The Feynman point is the sequence of six 9s which begins 762 digits into pi. "[Feynman] once stated during a lecture he would like to memorize the digits of pi until that point, so he could recite them and quip 'nine nine nine nine nine nine and so on.'"
Maybe I can work on this as I climb Mt Whitney at the end of the month?
Why the rote memory exercise? Well, it helps me pass the time on those solo ventures (hiking, motorcycling, kayaking) when the mind otherwise goes to jelly. I've already memorized pi to the 76th digit (cluttering up my memory from a contest in math class back in high school over 20 years ago). Oh, and I can sing the alphabet backwards, too.
So many brain cells, so little time.
3 comments:
TK, step away from the pie. Please.
You should have a listen to this excellent NPR piece on memorizing Pi.
Thanks, Dan... great NPR piece. I'm amazed Marc Umile got to 12,887 digits!
I've used the "clusters of four" method to get to 54 digits. Perhaps I should upgrade to clusters of six to get farther this time, although I fear I'll lose what I've already got in the conversion (one step back to make one hundred steps forward?)
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