Wednesday, February 7, 2018

An e Day Offering


Statement of actionability: if you want to memorize 100 digits of e, particularly using the major memory system, this is completely actionable to you.


I've seen estimates of the number of atoms in the universe at to the . . . somewhere in the 80th power.  The highest one I've seen in 82nd.  So, I have no problem capping the number I memorize of both e and pi at 100.  In the case of pi, I don't think I'll need a circle the size of the known universe, and more accurate than the last atom.  With e, I just don't think I'll ever be benefiting from a continual compounding of interest that has me owning every atom in the universe either.


e
2.718281828459045235360287471352662497757247093699959574966967627724076630353547594571382178525166427  4


If you have some experience memorizing things with a system using visuals, you can probably skip this next paragraph, which is only meant to give context, and perhaps to set the mood.

Imagine a young man named Nick, from the wrong side of tracks.  He longs for a girl, named here the diva forevermore.  But it's not meant to be, so pulls a knife on a young child named Dave, we presume to get a ransom -- it is not stated within the first digits of e.  He is not altogether kind in his treatment to Dave, but he is arrested, and feels crushed by the legal system.  He dies in jail, and through an act of grace makes it to heaven, ready to start a new life.  

Using the Major Memory System, that makes for the following:

  1. Nick looked at one last time at the diva  2718
  2.  and took a knife to Dave,    2818
  3. who is a nephew of a royal. 2845
  4. He threw the booze over the rail.  9045  
  5. Yelling to his enemies that he was going on the lamb. 2353
  6. Bits of cheese were still visible on the knife 6028
  7. "Come to the car, kid" he said  7471
  8.  with a smile and a nudge. 3526
  9.  He then grabbed his chin and got a rope 6249
  10.  made a gag and drove toward the lake 7757
  11.  going on a narrow that passed some cows 2470
  12.  His escaping depending on either a bomb or a ship. 9369
  13.  Like a baby his lip trembled. 9959
  14.  When upon reaching the lake he was hit in the rib 5749
  15.  The judge looked boyish 6696
  16.  and had just the cage for Nick 7627
  17.  who thought about his queen, his rose  7240
  18.  and about his gash . . . and more so his shame 7663
  19.  He was like sumo who was lame 0353
  20.  His lawyer, of course, had no clue 5475
  21.  He was poor, so he had no luck 9457
  22.  And went to his tomb, and then to heaven 1382
  23.  Where he saw his dog, who did not notice his past folly. 1785
  24.  Running like the Nile, he grabbed a tissue 2516
  25.  It was a new shore for Nick   6427
I like how our story starts with Nick and ends with Nick.  It starts with him somewhat sympathetic, goes to a dark place, but leads to redemption.

If you wanted a hundred decimal places after the "two", instead of 100 digits of e including the "two", the next digit is 4.  You could use the line "This is what he had waited for."  I just remember, "oh, yeah, put a 4."