Remembering Pi

Sir, I bear a rhyme excelling
in mystic force and magic spelling
celestial sprites elucidate
all my own tellings can´t relate . . .

Probably the worst mnemonic for Pi is given in the Bible (KJV) where 1 Kings 23 says “And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.” which implies Pi=3, accurate to a single digit :-(

All this so far is merely by way of an introduction to tell you about a new world record in remembering Pi. Last week saw Pi day (3.14= March 14th). In Emden, a coastal town in Germany, the aforementioned recital competition was held. Winner was policewoman Susanne Hippauf who managed to recite 18,026 digits of Pi error-free, taking 3 hours and 5 minutes to do so. This was over 2500 digits more than the previous record, which she also held.

BTW: now for something even more gross: The first 144 digits of Pi add up to 666 ;-)

Comments(4)
Billions of Versions... wrote " I would have to remember the numbers to come up with the mnemonic " Not Numbers, Kings ;-)
Cop Car wrote " The only gross thing about your [last] statement is the pun, Stu. *groaning*" Happy coincidence isn't it?
Brian (UK) wrote "18,026 digits of Pi ? Is that normal?" That's a better pun than mine, Brian! Normal, in mathematician speak, means that all the digits appear with the same statistical frequency, regardless of the base used to count, whether in binary, decimal, hex, or whatever. And yes Pi is normal, but Susanne's memory is abnormally good. Well done, lass!
Jenny (Ibiza) sent a gif link showing how HER memory works ;-)

Copyright ^© Ole Phat Stu on March 19, 2024 permalink Comments Email

St. Paddy's Day ;-)

Today being St.Patrick's day, I hope you are all enjoying a pint of shamrock-green Guinness or three, as I am :-)

And as you can see below, they have left me feeling rather sleepy!

Here is a staircase notice like the one we saw on a trip to Ireland; very Irish eh?

Comments(1)
Billions of Versions... wrote " I'm stuck on some stairs because this guy won't move! I'm following the rule. He says he is too." Both take steps to avoid the situation ;-)

Copyright ^© Ole Phat Stu on March 17, 2024 permalink Comments Email

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Friday, March 15

The Ides of March

On this day (in the Julian calender) Julius Caesar was stabbed to death by a number of Roman senators including Cassius and Brutus, particularly well described by Shakespeare in his play Julius Caesar which I recommend you read.

I also recommend you read the blog article I wrote about it ten years ago today paying particular attention to the words of the haruspex ;-)

Comments(2)
Billions of Versions... asked " How do you pronounce haruspex? This is the third word I've had to look up in the last hour!" ha-RUS-pex.
Ed (USA) asks "WTF does haruspex mean?" Someone who predicts the future by divining entrails.

Copyright ^© Ole Phat Stu on March 15, 2024 permalink Comments Email

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Sunday, March 3

Silent letters

Remember back in pre-school, when you had one of those little books to teach you the alphabet? A is for Apple, B is for Bee, C is for Cherry, D is for Dog etc etc?

Well now there is a misleading variant thereof, focussing on words which begin with silent letters which are not pronounced ;-) Hence the title of this thin book "P is for Pterodactyl" ;-)

A is for Aisle, C is for Czar, E is for Ewe, H is for Heir etc etc.
Unfortunately, there is not always a leading silent letter, so the authors got around this by using counterexamples :- I is not for Eye, N is not for Knot, and R is not for Are, etc etc

An amusing book, it cost me €15 via Amazon. ISBN 978-1-4926-7431-3.
Get yourself a copy, a coffee table book for your guests to browse through.

After they have read it, let them try reading this :-

A F K

Comments(3)
Cop Car wrote " Nice, exercise, Stu, illustrating the adaptability of the human mind. The alternate spelling adds hardly any extra time to the reading. It makes one wonder why we get in such a palaver over misspellings." Did you know that there are 6 signatures by Shakespeare, all 6 spelled differently ;-) Cop Car replied " Just checked your response to my comment and can, for once, say “Why, yes, I did know that.“ Usually I cannot say that to you. ;-)"
Billions of Versions... expanded the theme :-
"What English word has the most silent letters?
Woolfardisworthy. It is pronounced as “wulzry”.
Cholmondeley (Chumley)
Gloucester (Gloster)
Featherstonehaugh (Fanshaw)
Leominster (Lemster)
Worcester (Wuster)
Leicester (Lester)
Godmanchester (Gomster)
Newark (Nork)
Sailors know that “forecastle” is pronounced as “foxl” and “boatswain” as “bosun”."

Copyright ^© Ole Phat Stu on March 3, 2024 permalink Comments Email

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Link to the previous month's blog.

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