If Socrates were alive today, he'd encourage engineers to internalise the spigot algorithm

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.

Moonwalking with Einstein is a fun read. I started using some tricks in real life. One of the key premises is that humans are much better at remembering sensory things than abstract ones.

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…)

In 1999 when I was about 12, I memorized 120 digits of pi with little issue. I had some extra motivation: once I got to 20-30 digits, a classmate bet me I couldn't get past 100, and he'd give me $1 for every digit I memorized past 100. Never saw my $20 :(. Pretty sure it was a well-executed nerd-snipe.

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.

A chapter on memorising numbers from he book The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory by Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas uses a similar technique. They recommend memorising this mapping:

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 image 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+ door code when checking into a serviced apartment or airbnb, in case I forget my phone and otherwise would be without the code.

Learning an entire Mozart sonata is probably easier. How much engineering there is in the memorizing or in the composition I don't know, a lot?