Once upon a time, when I was a 6th grader in a pre-algebra class, there hung a giant poster that had a LOT of digits of pi on it.
Being the bored young sap I was, sitting in a stupid math class, I did everything I could to occupy my time. I played calculator games, drew stupid pictures, did other homework, etc. Just anything I could to stay busy.
Then one day I looked at the poster and thought, “Hmm, everyone knows pi is 3.14, but I wonder if they know it’s 3.1415926535897…probably not.” And so, it began. I memorized it up to that point, but I couldn’t stop myself.
Over the next few days, I memorized 5 more digits. Then 5 more…I just kept going. It crept into my head. I would stare at the wall, bored out of my mind because my teacher (like 99% of the teachers I’ve had in my life) blew balls. BAM! More digits memorized.
By the end of my 6th grade year, I had memorized the entire poster. Yes, as a 12 year old boy, I memorized pi to the 74th decimal.
Now do your *facepalm* and we’ll move on.
Anyways, life went on, and I always figured that I would never be able to use this bit of knowledge.
Fast forward a few years to freshman year of college. On March 14th, the computer science department had a celebration called “Pi Day” (because the date is 3/14). Yes, nerdy. Once again, *facepalm* and move on.
Anyways, among the events held on that day, there was a pi reciting contest. “Hey! This is a good chance to win some free stuff!”…so I went to the event, went to the podium they had set up, recited my 74 decimals, and sat back down. One would think that I would win.
Nope. There was a guy who recited over 100. Apparently, he stayed up “all night” memorizing it so he could win. He was going to only do 50, but he ended up memorizing 100 for good measure.
(insert third *facepalm* here)
He ended up winning some little travel bag thing and some other random stuff. Since I got 2nd place, I won TWO whole freaking pies. Cherry and Peach. They were delicious.
The moral of the story: Memorizing digits of an infinitesimal number will feed you when you’re a poor college student.
