Paul Miller <pmiller at DIESPAMMERS.lni.net> wrote in message
news:3837eb83$0$54870 at news.tdi.net...
> On Sun, 21 Nov 1999 07:29:21 -0500, "Alan Roth"
<alan42 at mindspring.com> wrote:
>> >> When I
> >> recite the first 200 decimal places of pi, I do it musically: I
rely
> >> on the sounds and (predominantly) tones of the Cantonese
pronunciation
> >> of the 10 digits. So, I can't recite them if I try to do it
in
> >> Mandarin or English.
>> >I have a musical background but had not thought of using it this way,
> >(and I certainly can't recite pi to 200 decimal places with sheer
> >memorization).
>> You certainly could if you put the effort into it. Actors memorize
entire
> plays, and Homeric poets memorized epics. Surely 200 words is not too
much to
> memorize? Some soliloquies in Shakespeare run longer than this!
Am I being accused of laziness, or of just not needing pi to 200 places?
I find rote memorization useless for most of what I have done
professionally (as a computer programmer). If I were a Shakespearean
actor I would memorize plays--I am not one.
I went back to school for a Master's degree at the age of 45 in a
totally new discipline, education. It took a few weeks to get back into
the swing of things--memorizing for tests et al. Most memorization can
be eased by memory aids of one kind or another. And I found that my age
didn't preclude carrying a 4.00 through the Master's program.
I ended up doing doctoral work in Educational Psychology--I got better
at remembering things as I studied ways of remembering. So what is the
point? I still find it surprising (and admirable) that someone would
take on the task of memorizing pi, but I am not inclined to do it
myself. Is this a character flaw?
Alan
Alan
