>>>>> "Larisa" == Larisa Migachyov <lvm at leland.Stanford.EDU> writes:
Larisa> I remember pi as a melody, where each note signifies a
Larisa> digit. So, I have it memorized to 3.1415926535897...
Larisa> However, when I need to use pi in calculations, I only use
Larisa> 3.1416.
Yeah, I do it in a similar way. However, rather than inventing my own
assignment of notes to the digits, I use Cantonese tones. Cantonese
has 9 tones, all of which occur in the 10 digits. (So, there is one
repetition.) That makes it a good tool for memorizing numbers!
Therefore, I recite the digits in pi (and any phone numbers of my
friends/relatives) using by their Cantonese sounds. If you ask me for
these number in English, I must hesitate to think about the numbers
once in Cantonese and then translate them into English. Similarly, if
you ask me for these number in Mandarin, I have to go through a
"tranliteration", which is, nevertheless, more straightforward than
English. (FYI, phone numbers in HK are 8 digits long.) OTOH, when
you ask me a general question in English or Mandarin, I can make up
the response immediately in the corresponding language without going
through any translations in my mind, just like how I do it in my first
language--Cantonese.
--
Lee Sau Dan $(0,X)wAV(B(Big5) ~{@nJX6X~}(HZ)
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