Notice anything special about that? The number of letters per word are 31415926. Look familiar? Pi is 3.14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 37510 58209... ! This sort of sentence is an example of a pi-mnemonic, ie an aid to remembering the decimal digits of Pi. Why stop with sentences? People have created poems, jokes, even dramas based on the digits of Pi. In many languages.
Currently we know the first 6,442,450,000 decimal digits of Pi, thanks to Japan's Kanada Lab. They ran a program (written by Daisuke Takahashi) on a large computer (a HITAC S-3800/480 to be precise) at the University of Tokyo from 19 - 24 September 1995 using something called Borwein's 4-th order convergent algorithm.
Here are some other examples of pi-mnemonics --- not all are mathematical. With the exception of ChiShona and Sindebele (official languages of Zimbabwe) they are from the huge and absolutely brilliant text file available from Antreas P. Hatzipolakis' site. I have left out authors' names for these because I do not think the names mentioned there are the original authors. I will be of course happy to correct this in case of error!
Albanian::Kur e shoh e mesoj sigurisht.
When I see it, I memorize it for sure. (Robert Nesimi)
Bulgarian: Kak e leko i bqrzo iz(ch)islimo pi, kogato znae(sh) kak.
How easy and quickly was checked pi if you know how (Note: 'ch' and
'sh' are single letters in Bulgarian.)
ChiShona: Iye 'P' naye 'I' ndivo vadikanwi. 'Pi' achava mwana.
P and I are lovers. Pi shall be a brainy child. (Martin Mugochi, maths lecturer, University of Zimbabwe)
Dutch:
Eva, o lief, o zoete hartedief uw blauwe oogen zyn wreed bedrogen.
Eve, oh love, oh sweet darling your blue eyes are cruelly deceived. (this song was being sung in the sixties, and its inventor has slunk into obscurity).
English: How I wish I could enumerate Pi easily, since all these horrible mnemonics prevent recalling any of pi's sequence more simply.
How I want a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy chapters involving quantum mechanics. One is, yes, adequate even enough to induce some fun and pleasure for an instant, miserably brief.
French:
I really like teaching a number, that is useful to wise men ! Glorius Archimedes, ingenious artist, You, of whom Syracuse still honours the merit !
German:
Polish:
Who likes to skip school on a rainy and misty day, perhpaps the one who madly in love, smartly dressed, runs to fall humbly at the feet of his loved one.
Portuguese: Sim, é'util e fácil memorizar um n'ugrato
aos sábios.
Yes, it is useful and easy to memorize a number loved by the wise.
Portuguese: Sou o medo e temor constante do menino vadio.
I am the constant fear and terror of lazy boys.
Romanian: Asa e bine a scrie renumitul si utilul numar.
That's the way to write the famous and useful number.
Sindebele: Nxa u fika e khaya uzojabula na y'nkosi ujesu qobo.
When you get to heaven, you will rejoice with the Lord Jesus.
(Note: again, the last digit represented here is due to rounding off ---
it should be 3. Thanks to Dr Precious Sibanda, U of Zimbabwe Maths lecturer for this one)
Spanish: Sol y Luna y Cielo proclaman al Divino Autor del Cosmo.
Sun & Moon & Skies proclaim the divine author of the Universe.
Swedish:
(probably written by a journalist at one of Sweden's daily newspaper in the early 70's or so.)
But why stop at silly poems? Let's go for a really silly story. It's from The Mathematical Intelligencer, Vol.8 No.3, Pg.56/57 but I am not sure who wrote it. The story, which is a story about itself, contains the first 402 decimals of Pi. Any punctuation mark other than a period represents a zero digit. Words of longer than 9 letters represent two adjacent digits (for example, a twelve-letter word represents the two digits 1-2). A digit written literally stands for the same digit in the expansion (some would call this cheating). At least the author didn't reach decimal place 601, where we get 000. Or decimal place 772, where we encounter 9999998!
For a time I stood pondering on circle sizes. The large computer mainframe quietly processed all of its assembly code. Inside my entire hope lay for figuring out an elusive expansion. Value: pi. Decimals expected soon. I nervously entered a format procedure. The mainframe processed the request. Error. I, again entering it, carefully retyped. This iteration gave zero error printouts in all - success. Intently I waited. Soon, roused by thoughts within me, appeared narrative mnemonics relating digits to verbiage ! The idea appeared to exist but only in abbreviated fashion - little phrases typically. Pressing on I then resolved, deciding firmly about a sum of decimals to use - likely around four hundred, presuming the computer code soon halted! Pondering these ideas, words appealed to me. But a problem of zeros did exist. Pondering more, solution subsequently appeared. Zero suggests a punctuation element. Very novel! My thoughts were culminated. No periods, I concluded. All residual marks of punctuation = zeros. First digit expansion answer then came before me. On examining some problemsunhappily arose. That imbecilic bug! The printout I possessed showed four nine as foremost decimals. Manifestly troubling. Totally every number looked wrong. Repairing the bug took much effort. A pi mnemonic with letters truly seemed good. Counting of all the letters probably should suffice. Reaching for a record would be helpful. Consequently, I continued, expecting a good final answer from computer. First number slowly displayed on the flat screen - 3. Good. Trailing digits apparently were right also. Now my memory scheme must probably be implementable. The technique was chosen, elegant in scheme: by self reference a tale mnemonically helpful was ensured. An able title suddenly existed - ``Circle Digits". Taking pen I began. Words emanated uneasily. I desired more synonyms. Speedily I found my (alongside me) Thesaurus. Rogets is probably an essential in doing this, instantly I decided. I wrote and erased more. The Rogets clearly assisted immensely. My story proceeded (how lovely!) faultlessly. The end, above all, would soon joyfully overtake. So, this memory helper story is incontestably complete. Soon I will locate publisher. There a narrative will I trust immediately appear, producing fame. THE END..
3.14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 37510 58209 74944 59230 78164 06286 20899 86280 34825 34211 70679 82148 08651 32823 06647 09384 46095 50582 23172 53594 08128 48111 74502 84102 70193 85211 05559 64462 29489 54930 38196 44288 10975 66593 34461 28475 64823 37867 83165 27120 19091 45648 56692 34603 48610 45432 66482 13393 60726 02491 41273 72458 70066 06315 58817 48815 20920 96282 92540 91715 36436 78925 90360 01133 05305 48820 46652 13841 46951 94151 16094 33057 27036 57595 91953 09218 61173 81932 61179 31051 18548 07446 23799 62749 56735 18857 52724 89122 79381 83011 94912 98336 73362 44065 66430 86021 39494 63952 24737 19070 21798 60943 70277 05392 17176 29317 67523 84674 81846 76694 05132 00056 81271 45263 56082 77857 71342 75778 96091 73637 17872 14684 40901 22495 34301 46549 58537 10507 92279 68925 89235 42019 95611 21290 21960 86403 44181 59813 62977 47713 09960 51870 72113 49999 99837 29780 49951 05973 17328 16096 31859 50244 59455 34690 83026 42522 30825 33446 85035 26193 11881 71010 00313 78387 52886 58753 32083 81420 61717 76691 47303 59825 34904 28755 46873 11595 62863 88235 37875 93751 95778 18577 80532 17122 68066 13001 92787 66111 95909 21642 01989