YHK - yet another hacker news clone

Then, like a MENTAT, they'd be able to tell you the 16afedf97fd4th digit of pi when prod

In hex, naturally https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bailey%E2%80%93Borwein%E2%80%9...

>The BBP formula gives rise to a spigot algorithm for computing the nth base-16 (hexadecimal) digit of π (and therefore also the 4nth binary digit of π) WITHOUT computing the preceding digits.

A good example is remembering names: when one’s name is “John Baker”, it is so much easier to remember by silently adding “the” in front of it.

We’re also very good at remembering salacious stuff. I tried constructing my own memory palace for a grocery shopping list that included cream cheese. If you mentally make Claudia Schiffer take a bath in cream cheese, you’ll never forget that. (I read the book at least 10 years ago and still haven’t…)

Having not practiced at all since about 2001 or so, I can still get to about 30 pretty easily. I didn't use any techniques specifically, I just kept practicing as far as I remember.

0: 's'

1: 't'

2: 'n'

3: 'm'

4: 'r'

5: 'l'

6: 'sh'

7: 'k'

8: 'v'

9: 'p/b'

To use it, just make images/stories that correspond to the digits you need to remember.

The more absurd the story, the less likely you'll forget.

E.g. pi (3.14159265359 ) could be the images of these objects: mit, rat, lab, Noah, shell, mail, bee. Then just sew them together in a story e.g. someone drops a mit, it lands on a rat, the rat runs up to someone in a lab, it's Noah, he throws a shell, it knocks over some mail which lands on a bee.

I don't use it often, but I like to memorise any 8+ digit door code when checking into a serviced apartment or airbnb, in case I forget my phone and would otherwise be without the code.

The trick is to embrace incredulity. The more bizarre and strange the “tags” you assign to what you remember, the easier they stick in your head. It feels daft and cringeworthy, but it really, really works.

For this, however, I’d argue a memory palace is overkill. And I still don’t know how well it lends itself to remembering numbers by rote.

Consider this: how many telephone numbers have you memorised?

I can recall four of my own, each of my parents, my wife, and a handful of home phone numbers too.

That’s easily 100 digits in a specific order. Perhaps it’s possible to chunk the 100 digits of pie into smaller pieces, and memorise them like phrases, just as we do with phone numbers.

I don't find the memory palace tricks helpful at all though. I think that is a consequence of my Aphantasia and something I only realised recently. I can't visualise a memory palace so placing things in it is impossible!

Trying to remember 100 digits of pi won't give you any advantage in cognitive functions apart from memorizing 100 digits of pi, for a little while. Better spend your time elsewhere.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/news/how-many-decimals-of-pi-do...

I can teach you right now, the first 50 digits of Pi, after the 3 and the comma. And with almost zero effort. Just memorize the text below...

Congrats you little, little genius.

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"A poem I write carefully to encode every new digit silently, reminding curious beginners how we can decipher each number in hidden text you see.

Whenever you go through beautiful green wilderness at midnight, remember when I carefully recited a simple paragraph and practiced repeating the numbers again; I remembered."

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Funny thing is that another kid memorized pi to over 500 digits just from pure memorization.

[1] i memorized 3,141 digits of pi to prove a point (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAjkicwrD4I)

Edit: I had only skimmed through the OP when I posted this comment, turns out both the video and this article talk about the memory palace method! They diverge in the way it's applied though, with the AiP video associating digits with real life locations