Welcome to my Pi page. Here you can find links to other Pi places on the net, my Pi memorization tips and instant 100 thousand decimal places of Pi. Before we start I am NOT one of those sad guys who either a) devotes his life to calculating Pi to 200 billion decimal places or b) tries to memorize the number to 20,000 decimal places. I do have a life but there are some people who don't and this page is for those people who like to read as much about Pi as they can. Those of you who came here to get the first 100 or so decimal places are alright. It's good to show off and you'll probably have merit points up to your ears if you tell your maths teacher. I like making web pages and this is just another one on the list.
Pi is a really long number that is the ratio between a circle's diameter and its circumference (Pi X Diameter = Circumference). Maths teachers love it and there are even some mad people who try an memorize it to 20,000 decimal places and more. (about 100 to 200 decimal places is alright but anything over 1000 is insanity). I was only looking for another 20 or so decimal places to add to my 10 memorized decimal places and then show off in school but since then I've memorized Pi to over 115 decimal places and made this page dedicated to everyone's favourite irrational number. For those of you who plan on enjoying Pi in all its glory, you'll need a Pi calculation program.
I currently have 2 programs, SuperPi and PiFast. In my opinion they're the best two programs out there (with PiFast being the best). Pi calculation programs basically use up a lot of time and memory to spit out a massive number which can take up to a Gigabyte off your hard drive... but it's worth it for the smaller calculations. To get a full list of the Pi programs available for download, go HERE.
So. You've gone and got a decent calculation program. You've had a go at calculating a small number (100 thousand dp), a medium number (2 million dp) and you started the calculation for 1 billion dp but had a heart attack when you saw how long it would take and how much hard drive space it would use up. The next step after that is to start learning it. But how? It's sooooo huge. Well I'll tell you how.
I've learnt Pi up and over 115 decimal places. It took me a week to learn the first 100 and I've got the worst memory on the planet. If you pass the 100 barrier you might as well go to 1000. Learning up to 100 is all about finding and remembering little patterns. I remembered most of it as a series of hills were the higher the number the higher the hill. It's different for each person but here's how I remembered.
3.1415926535 - The first 10. You should already know this. If you don't, it won't take long to learn.
8979 - Just remember 8,7 and alternate it with 9s.
323 - Nice pattern.
846264 - Just say this one over and over again. It has a nice 'bouncy' feel.
3383 - The first 3 is one less than the 4 in the last bit. The rest is easy cos it folloes a nice pattern: 383.
279502 - The 2 is one less than the 3 in the last bit. I remember the rest as a hill. it goes up to 7(odd number), up to 9(odd number), down to 5(odd number), down to 0(errr..) then a 2.
884 - Two 8s then half one if them to get 4.
1971 - A good year.
693993 - All single digit multiples of 3. Start on the middle (6), up to the top (9), down to the bottom (3), to the top (9) and don't forget to double then back down to the bottom (3)
751 - 3/4 of 1000 add 1.
058 - Just remember this bit. If you tag it onto the last bit it flows nicely.
2097 - Almost a century into the future. Remember as a year.
4944 - Remember 3383. Flip it round and add 1 to all the numbers.
59230 - The first 5 is one more than the 4 in the last bit. The rest almost goes down in order except the 2 and 3 are switched round.
78164 - Starts on two consecutive numbers. Then it's right down to 1, jump up to 6 then down a bit to 4.
06286 - All even. From 0 it's up to the middle (6), down to 2, right up to 8 then back to the middle (6).
208998 - Strings together nicely from 286 to 208 (say it over and over). Then it's 998. Not too hard.
6280 - From the last 8 it's down to 6, down to 2, right back up to 8 then right back down to 0.
34825 - Starts on two consecutive numbers. Double the 4 to get 8 then divide 8 by 4 to get 2. Then just add a 5.
34211 - Same 3,4 consecutive again. Half the 4 to get the 2 then half that to get 1 (and don't forget there's 2 of those).
70679 - Think of 7679. Start on 7 and take 1 off to get 6. Don't forget to put a 0 in between though. The 6,7,9 is like 6,7,8,9 without the 8. Simple.
If you want to be even better just remember to put that missing 8 from the last bit back in and there you have your 101st digit.
If you can remember all that you have your first 100 (101) digits. If you still can't do it, here are a few tips:
If you think you can remember all that go HERE to test yourself. This Pi trainer also tells you the next few digits after what you know so you can tag them onto the end and expand on your Pi memorization! Perhaps, one day, you can go for the world record of around 42,000 digits! (sad person).
A billion digits looks good on paper but think about this. How many decimal places of pi do you think are required to work out the diameter of the UNIVERSE to within the width if 1 PROTON (if you don't know what a proton is go to my advanced particle physics page). The answer is at the bottom of the page.
If you want half a billion digits all for yourself (pointless I know) you can either use your shiny new Pi calculator... or.... you can go HERE. You'll find loads of smaller 10 million digit files which you can download as you please.
If on the other hand you want 100 thousand digits, quick and instant go HERE.
For more Pi links go HERE.
The answer - 39 decimal places!! If you know the first hundred you can calculate the diameter of the universe to within 1 quadrillion quadrillion quadrillion quadrillionth the diameter of a proton!!!