4 ms·
The easiest way to learn a quite large number of pi digits is with mnemonic poems like this one I've known since I was 10 or so (French): 3 1 4 1 5
by wazoox 4y ago
The easiest way to learn a quite large number of pi digits is with mnemonic poems like this one I've known since I was 10 or so (French):
3 1 4 1 5 9 2 6 5 3 5
Que j'aime à faire apprendre un nombre utile aux sages
8 9 7 9
Immortel Archimède, artiste, ingénieur,
3 2 3 8 4 6 2 6
Qui de ton jugement peut priser la valeur?
4 3 3 8 3 2 7 9
Pour moi ton problème eut de pareils avantages.
- dwringer 4y agoWhoa, thanks to your comment, which helpfully illustrates some of the "poetic" aspects of the digits' decimal arrangement, I became instantly convinced the digits of pi are the theme on which Elgar wrote his "Enigma" Variations. It's mentioned on Wikipedia but pretty far down as a recent theory (the source is here[0]). But now I feel almost foolish for not thinking it before. Quoting Wikipedia, "on the evening of 21 October 1898, after a tiring day's teaching, he sat down at the piano. A melody he played caught the attention of his wife, and he began to improvise variations on it in styles which reflected the character of some of his friends." It's pretty easy to imagine he was just plinking out scale degrees corresponding to the digits of pi in a pleasing rhythm and one thing led to another. [0]https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D8377M82/download https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D8377M82/do...