High school student recites 8,784 digits of pi

[Evo]

I don't get it "But his mathematical feat won the praise of others, including the math and computer science teacher who got Gaurav interested in it."

Why is this considered a "mathematical feat"? He's not actually doing any math. I admit it's an awesome bit of memorization and recitation, but come on, he's not actually doing any math, he's reciting a string of numbers.

So does this make him a great mathematician or someone with great memorization skills that could suck at math?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11858760/

 

[shmoe]

So does this make him a great mathematician or someone with great memorization skills that could suck at math?

He could also have memorization skills and be awesome at math. This feat is certainly not a demonstration of mathematical ability.


ps. https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=114477 don't GD regulars ever visit the maths forum

 

[scott1]

This already therd about this in the general math fourm.
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=114477

 

[Evo]

He could also have memorization skills and be awesome at math. This feat is certainly not a demonstration of mathematical ability.


ps. https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=114477 don't GD regulars ever visit the maths forum

Heavens no, math is hard. Besides, GD is a different world.

So, Russ beat me to it.

 

[JamesU]

It's good for russ that he's a mentor...or else I don't think he would ever post here again :

 

[rachmaninoff]

Hey look I've memorized 62 digits! Even better, they're 62 useful digits!

[tex]\begin{align}h &= 6.6261 \times 10^{-34} \, J \cdot s \notag \\
\hbar &= 1.0546 \times 10^{-34}\, J\cdot s\notag \\
c &= 2.9979 \times 10^8 \,m/s\notag \\
G &= 6.674 \times 10^{-11} \,m^3/(kg\cdot s^2)\notag\\
k_B &= 1.3807 \times 10^{-23} \,J/K\notag\\
N_A &= 6.0221 \times 10^{23} \notag\\
1/ \alpha &= 137.036 \notag \\
\epsilon_0 &= 8.8542 \times 10^{-12}\, F/m \notag\\
\mu_0 &\equiv 4 \pi \times 10^{-7} \,N/A^2\notag\\
-q_e &=1.6022 \times 10^{-19}\, C\notag \end{align}[/tex]

Of course, you could take the easy way out and just know 62 useless digits of pi...

 

[mattmns]

Me and Evo are thinking alike

 

[Bladibla]

Hey look I've memorized 62 digits! Even better, they're 62 useful digits!

[tex]\begin{align}h &= 6.6261 \times 10^{-34} \, J \cdot s \notag \\
\hbar &= 1.0546 \times 10^{-34}\, J\cdot s\notag \\
c &= 2.9979 \times 10^8 \,m/s\notag \\
G &= 6.674 \times 10^{-11} \,m^3/(kg\cdot s^2)\notag\\
k_B &= 1.3807 \times 10^{-23} \,J/K\notag\\
N_A &= 6.0221 \times 10^{23} \notag\\
1/ \alpha &= 137.036 \notag \\
\epsilon_0 &= 8.8542 \times 10^{-12}\, F/m \notag\\
\mu_0 &\equiv 4 \pi \times 10^{-7} \,N/A^2\notag\\
-q_e &=1.6022 \times 10^{-19}\, C\notag \end{align}[/tex]

Of course, you could take the easy way out and just know 62 useless digits of pi...

Exactly my thoughts.

 

[Astronuc]

High school student recites 8,784 digits of pi.

A bit like counting the grains of sand on beach.

I'd rather drink beer and play frisbee or go surfing.

 

[zoobyshoe]

So does this make him a great mathematician or someone with great memorization skills that could suck at math?

The question is: was the kid somehow calculating as he went along, or was this "mere" memorization, meaning a completely non-mathematical feat? In the latter case the achievement is a prodigious, but non-mathematical one, and it would be pretty dull-witted to ascribe great math skills to the person who did it.

 

[BobG]

I don't get it "But his mathematical feat won the praise of others, including the math and computer science teacher who got Gaurav interested in it."

Why is this considered a "mathematical feat"? He's not actually doing any math. I admit it's an awesome bit of memorization and recitation, but come on, he's not actually doing any math, he's reciting a string of numbers.

So does this make him a great mathematician or someone with great memorization skills that could suck at math?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11858760/

Geez, what's wrong with you folks. I would think he would get invited to scads of parties with a skill like this.

But then, maybe not. Being good at counting on my fingers and toes hasn't gotten me invited to very many parties.

 

[Cyrus]

Arg, these indian kids are taking over the spelling bee's and number memorizing contests. What ever happen to the asian kids!? Oh the humanity!

 

[bomba923]

Arg, this indian kids are taking over the spelling bee's and number memorizing contests. What ever happen to the asian kids!? Oh the humanity!

Indians are Asians as well

-Did you mean East Asian / Oriental ?

 

[Moonbear]

Geez, what's wrong with you folks. I would think he would get invited to scads of parties with a skill like this.

Maybe he started memorizing it while sitting home alone bored because he wasn't invited to any parties?

 

[Cyrus]

You know what I meant wise guy.

 

[-Job-]

Very good memory can actually be a handicap, it's not accidental that most people don't have that good a memory, I'm fine with my 16 bytes of RAM thank you very much.

 

[jimmy p]

16 BYTES of RAM? you couldn't boil a cup of tea on that! (irrelevant...?)

I had a friend who memorised the periodic table, I wasn't in awe. I just wanted to hurt him.

 

[JasonRox]

Something tells me he needs a girlfriend or a p**** video.

There has to be something better to do with your time.

 

[DaveC426913]

It wasn't an act of world peace, and it wasn't curing cancer. If it has to do with numbers, it must be math.

 

[Evo]

It wasn't an act of world peace, and it wasn't curing cancer. If it has to do with numbers, it must be math.

Actually it has to do with memorization.

 

[DaveC426913]

Actually it has to do with memorization.

Ye-e-e-e-s. I was being sarcastic. (Oops. Forgot my smileys.)

The mentality of mainstream news such as MSNBC: "if it's numbers, it's math".

 

[Evo]

Ye-e-e-e-s. I was being sarcastic. (Oops. Forgot my smileys.)

The mentality of mainstream news such as MSNBC: "if it's numbers, it's math".

You know, you can be banned for forgetting to use smilies in GD.

 

[Monique]

I had a friend who memorised the periodic table, I wasn't in awe. I just wanted to hurt him.

That's not hard, I had all the molecular weights memorized along with it

 

[siddharth]

That's not hard, I had all the molecular weights memorized along with it

In school, one of my chemistry teachers told the class to memorize the periodic table. Each class, he would randomly pick some students and ask them to recite from element X to element Y. I never was able to memorize it... So I just made a chart and pasted it to the wall. He never knew.

 

[AngelShare]

Great at math, great memory, who knows... He still did something I never will out of sheer lack of interest... Not to mention that pesky little memory problem I have.

 

[Dawguard]

Memory is extremely important, but to waste it on such meaningless information as the digits of Pi is simply, in my ever-so-humble opinion, stupid. He could do anything else with his memory and he did that! What about memorizing formulas, rules of grammer, passages from books you read, or anythign that is relevant to your life! What a waste, what a sheer waste!

 

[neutrino]

In school, one of my chemistry teachers told the class to memorize the periodic table. Each class, he would randomly pick some students and ask them to recite from element X to element Y. I never was able to memorize it... So I just made a chart and pasted it to the wall. He never knew.

Which school were you from? Just curious.

 

[-Job-]

There's a web server at some University, i think, that can remember about 51 Billion digits.

 

[cPQaIM]

People can't be oriental, only rugs.

Indians are Asians as well

-Did you mean East Asian / Oriental ?

People can't be oriental, only rugs.

 

[DaveC426913]

People can't be oriental, only rugs.

Thank you.

I've been spouting this one every chance I get since I first heard it, but people just look at me askance. I began to think I was mistaken.

Oriental is, by and large, a derogatory term, though not everyone has strong feelings about it.

 

[DaveC426913]

Memory is extremely important, but to waste it on such meaningless information as the digits of Pi is simply, in my ever-so-humble opinion, stupid. He could do anything else with his memory and he did that! What about memorizing formulas, rules of grammer, passages from books you read, or anythign that is relevant to your life! What a waste, what a sheer waste!

Do you really think so?
Your conclusion would be based on a couple of pretty shaky assumptions (mix & match as you wish):

• that one has only a certain amount of memory, such that some of it could be 'wasted'
• that one has only a certain amount of free time, such that doing some pointless activity is demonstrably eating into more meaningful activities
• that the rest of us are using our free time and/or free memory to do more meaningful things - demonstrably more than this person is (eg. what if this guy has no TV, or better yet what if he doesn't frequent the General discussion boards on forums? What if that's the time he uses to memorize pi? Is it still a stupid irrelevant waste of time? Or at least any more of a stupid, irrelevant waste of time than the rest of us are guilty of?)

 

[BobG]

Do you really think so?
Your conclusion would be based on a couple of pretty shaky assumptions (mix & match as you wish):

• that one has only a certain amount of memory, such that some of it could be 'wasted'
• that one has only a certain amount of free time, such that doing some pointless activity is demonstrably eating into more meaningful activities
• that the rest of us are using our free time and/or free memory to do more meaningful things - demonstrably more than this person is (eg. what if this guy has no TV, or better yet what if he doesn't frequent the General discussion boards on forums? What if that's the time he uses to memorize pi? Is it still a stupid irrelevant waste of time? Or at least any more of a stupid, irrelevant waste of time than the rest of us are guilty of?)

The big waste in memorizing 8,784 digits of pi is that he's still 84,106 digits short of reaching where my birthday appears in pi.

 

[BobG]

That's not hard, I had all the molecular weights memorized along with it

Pssh. If you owned a Post 1491 or a Hemmi 257, you wouldn't have to memorize the molecular weights (at least of any of the molecules you're most likely to use).

Hemmi 257