5 ms·

100 digits by next week? Probably easiest to just memorize it?

by Grakel 6y ago

jsnell 6y ago
But that's cheating!
EE84M3i 6y ago
I think for most people that would be a significantly larger time investment.
PragmaticPulp 6y ago
> Your assignment is to memorize the first 100 digits of pi having been intentionally given so little time to do so that your only chance of completing the assignment is to cheat.
- slavik81 6y ago
  That takes maybe a couple hours. I memorized the first ~50 one day in math class when I was bored. It's been 15 years and I still remember most of them. (Yet, I still can't remember where I left my keys just this morning...) It would definitely be more work to prepare a method of cheating.
- thaumasiotes 6y ago
  Sure, it says that, but it also says "at the start of the next class". Even if classes are one day apart, it's perfectly doable without cheating. But that's not the norm. With more than a full day, you've got plenty of time.
meowster 6y ago
How many people were actually listening to the numbers to determine if they were the correct numbers? If everyone was focused on trying to catch cheating, they may not have noticed. I would have tried cheating by only memorizing the first ten and last five digits, then make up the rest in the middle. The goal was to cheat, not to provide the correct answer. EDIT: Apparently one of the students who originally was given this test, did in fact use this method [0]: "Another just memorized the first ten digits of pi and randomly filled in the rest, assuming the instructors would be too lazy to check every digit. His assumption was correct." [0] http://www.rumint.org/gregconti/publications/KobayashiMaru_PrePub.pdf http://www.rumint.org/gregconti/publications/KobayashiMaru_P...
- aidenn0 6y ago
  Had an English teacher where a classmate noticed that there were hardly any comments from the teacher in the middle of our weekly response papers. He copied the same middle paragraph into his paper and it took 5 weeks before the teacher noticed.
evan_ 6y ago
Memorizing the numbers is against the spirit of the assignment, and therefore is the ultimate expression of cheating.
- smichel17 6y ago
  However, if you also prepared a convincing fascade of cheating to for the "explain your method" part, then I would say it is in the spirit and deserves full marks.
stuaxo 6y ago
I guess it sounds impossible... 10x 10 digit numbers... maybe ??
- Olreich 6y ago
  Memorizing ten phone numbers isn’t hard, and those are perfect size! Give these fake phone numbers to 10 fake friends starting with A through J and you’re golden.
- slavik81 6y ago
  I sat there typing it into my calculator until I built up muscle memory. It's not that much compared to a song, a play or a dance routine.
cecilpl2 6y ago
I memorized the first 100 on a bet in high school and it took me a few days at most. I can still rattle them off perfectly, 20 years later. Not really in the spirit of the assignment though.

100 digits by next week? Probably easiest to just memorize it?

by Grakel 6y ago

100 digits by next week? Probably easiest to just memorize it?

jsnell 6y ago

But that's cheating!

EE84M3i 6y ago

I think for most people that would be a significantly larger time investment.

PragmaticPulp 6y ago

> Your assignment is to memorize the first 100 digits of pi having been intentionally given so little time to do so that your only chance of completing the assignment is to cheat.

slavik81 6y ago
That takes maybe a couple hours. I memorized the first ~50 one day in math class when I was bored. It's been 15 years and I still remember most of them. (Yet, I still can't remember where I left my keys just this morning...) It would definitely be more work to prepare a method of cheating.
thaumasiotes 6y ago
Sure, it says that, but it also says "at the start of the next class". Even if classes are one day apart, it's perfectly doable without cheating. But that's not the norm. With more than a full day, you've got plenty of time.

meowster 6y ago

How many people were actually listening to the numbers to determine if they were the correct numbers? If everyone was focused on trying to catch cheating, they may not have noticed. I would have tried cheating by only memorizing the first ten and last five digits, then make up the rest in the middle. The goal was to cheat, not to provide the correct answer. EDIT: Apparently one of the students who originally was given this test, did in fact use this method [0]: "Another just memorized the first ten digits of pi and randomly filled in the rest, assuming the instructors would be too lazy to check every digit. His assumption was correct." [0] http://www.rumint.org/gregconti/publications/KobayashiMaru_PrePub.pdf http://www.rumint.org/gregconti/publications/KobayashiMaru_P...

aidenn0 6y ago
Had an English teacher where a classmate noticed that there were hardly any comments from the teacher in the middle of our weekly response papers. He copied the same middle paragraph into his paper and it took 5 weeks before the teacher noticed.

evan_ 6y ago

Memorizing the numbers is against the spirit of the assignment, and therefore is the ultimate expression of cheating.

smichel17 6y ago
However, if you also prepared a convincing fascade of cheating to for the "explain your method" part, then I would say it is in the spirit and deserves full marks.

stuaxo 6y ago

I guess it sounds impossible... 10x 10 digit numbers... maybe ??

Olreich 6y ago
Memorizing ten phone numbers isn’t hard, and those are perfect size! Give these fake phone numbers to 10 fake friends starting with A through J and you’re golden.
slavik81 6y ago
I sat there typing it into my calculator until I built up muscle memory. It's not that much compared to a song, a play or a dance routine.

cecilpl2 6y ago

I memorized the first 100 on a bet in high school and it took me a few days at most. I can still rattle them off perfectly, 20 years later. Not really in the spirit of the assignment though.