How I Memorized Pi to 2,000 digits
It’s more to do with imagination than it is memory.
I know what you’re thinking. This is an outrageous, possibly over-exaggerated claim purely for the purpose of bringing in clicks. Well, while I can’t deny that I hope the title snatches enough attention, the claim is 100% true. You could sit me down right now and listen to me recite 2,000 digits of Pi without any prompts (something i’m sure you would find riveting from start to finish).
But before I divulge my secrets, I would also like to preface the rest of this article with a little disclaimer: I have an average memory. In fact, if you were to ask any of my Secondary school teachers, they would probably say below average. As counter-intuitive as it seems, you do not need a good memory to be successful at the method I will describe here. You just need to understand how to utilize your memory in ways that allows it to operate much more efficiently, and be willing to put some time in every day to learn it.
Now that’s out of the way, let’s start with a little background.
I first became interested in learning memory techniques when I read Joshua Foer’s fantastic book ‘Moonwalking with Einstein’. It was here that i first learnt about the numerous memory championships that take place all over the world, where competitors will attempt to memorize thousands of items, such as numbers, binary digits, playing cards, random images etc and try to recall as perfectly as possible.
What really caught my attention was that for the most part the competitors all claimed to have average memories. They weren't geniuses or savants, they were just average people that had taught themselves memory techniques that take advantage of our brains strengths.
After reading this, I was hooked. Desperate to learn these techniques, I set out with the goal in mind of attempting to memorize 100 digits of Pi. One year later, i’m currently at 2,000 digits memorized. I’ve manged this by using the ‘Major System’, one of the most commonly used systems to memorize numbers. I have attempted to explain this system as well as I can for anyone who may be interested in giving it a go, which starts with…
Convert the boring into the exciting, hilarious, and downright filthy.
Firstly, memorizing numbers is hard. Evidence suggests once you get past seven numbers, you’re recollection ability drops off drastically. Not only is it difficult, it’s boring. So instead, we’re gonna convert those numbers into something much funner, which we can then convert back into numbers later on.
Above is a simplified version of the full Major system that I found much easier to use, but there are plenty of resources online showing the full range of sounds.
With the major system, this involves converting numbers into consonants, and then grouping those consonants to make a word. That might sound confusing, but it’s actually quite straight forward and surprisingly fun.
The general idea behind this technique involves converting numbers into consonants, then grouping those consonants to make a word that you can turn in to a vivid image. Commonly, you group numbers in threes, so lets run through an example:
132 — DMN/TMN
There are plenty of directions you can go with either of these grouping, but for example you could turn DMN into DeMoN or DoMiNo, and TMN into hiT MaN.
Once you settle on a word, let’s say ‘Demon’, you’ve now got to create an incredibly vivid image in your mind of the word. Think about every aspect of the image and how you can make it as memorable as possible. Perhaps instead of hair it’s got bright fire. It could be drooling, which burns through the floor as it falls out of its mouth. Is it making any noise? What does it smell like? The more senses you can link this image to the easier it is going to be to store long term and recall when needed. This is where you can really allow your imagination to run wild.
By converting each three numbers into one image, you can turn the impossible sounding task of memorizing 102 numbers into the much more manageable talk of memorizing 34 images.
Top Tip: Not only does sex sell, sex is memorable. While researching this technique, most resources stressed that sexual images are much more likely to be recalled easier. 315 could be someone receiving a MeDaL, but you might be more inclined to spent a bit more time imagining the intricacies of an underwear MoDeL, whether that’s a Victoria Secret Angel or a Calvin Klein hunk.
If you’re having trouble creating words, or it’s just taking too much time, there is an extremely useful website that allows you to pop your numbers in and it will generate all the words possible for that grouping.
Memory Palace — Putting them in order
Okay, so now you can covert a bunch of numbers into images, but how will you know the order in which to recall them later on? For this we’ll have to venture into what many of you know as ‘The Mind Palace’. Made popular by TV shows such as ‘Sherlock’, this is a real method that has been utilized for literally thousands of years.
There are many sources out there that break down how to build your own memory palace, but the basic idea is that you create a mental representation of an area you know very well, for example your house. You then create a path through this place, with distinct locations scattered throughout it. If using your house, one location could be your front door, then your hallway, the downstairs toilet, and so on. This technique relies on the fact that humans generally have very good spatial memory.
Once you have a path that runs throughout the entire location, you can start populating each location with the digits of Pi.
So, beginning with 3. and starting at your front door, you could imagine a delicious looking TaRT (141) lying on the floor that you have to step over to make sure you don’t ruin (or imagine jumping on it and making a mess, whatever floats your boat).
Opening your door, you could see see LuPiN (592) from Harry Potter changing into a werewolf, scratching the paint off your walls.
You then just keep going on with this until you have populated your entire palace. The number of individual locations you chose to put in your mind palace is completely up to you. The first palace I created was the house I grew up in, which I filled with 34 locations, in order to fit 100 digits of pi (the last location is only filled with one number).
As you practice, you'll get better at fitting more locations in one space. For example to begin with might have a chest of draws as a location and imagine someone sitting on top of it. Later on you may also decide to have images be inside each of the individual drawers.
Recollection
In order to recall your stored numbers, you essentially just have to do the above process backwards. Imagine walking through your palace, visiting ever location and converting each image (DeMoN), into their main consonants (DMN), and then their related numbers (132).
Just spend a few minutes every day mentally walking through your path, and it will help solidify those images into your memory.
If you fill up a palace and want to keep memorizing more digits, simply make another palace. Maybe use a bigger place so you can fit more locations in it. Taking it step by step, you’ll be surprised how quickly you have that first 100 digits memorized. I have 19 different palaces filled in order to memorize 2,000 digits, some that hold 100 digits, some 200.
You’ll even find that this technique can help you in everyday life. If you get good enough as quickly converting numbers into letters and then vivid images, you’ll be able to use this method in a multitude of situations. Just make sure to create images that are as vivid as possible, and you’ll be memorizing like a pro in now time.
