Using the instructions on this page, you and anyone else can memorize a potentially unlimited number of digits of the constant pi and recall them without error, while learning the Link System and The Phonetic System, which are helpful in memorizing lists of objects and numbers in general.
In its simplest form, the link system allows you to memorize a list of objects in order. The way it does this, similar to the concept of a linked list in computer science, is to create a mental association between adjacent items in the list. Then, if you know the first item, you can recall the second, and knowing that, recall the third, and so on until the end of the list.
Forming these associations and making them strong is the critical part. In the same way you associate bacon with eggs, or a textbook with a teacher, you can use your imagination to create new and powerful associations between any two objects.
For example, suppose you wanted to associate balloons with pigs. You could imagine something boring, such as a pig standing next to a balloon. But this image isn't likely to stick in your mind. You always want to imagine a crazy, exaggerated, colourful, detailed, shocking, or otherwise highly notable image, so that the association you create will be strong. If you have trouble remembering a particular association, throw it away, and invent something even more bizarre. Strange dreams you've had often serve as good examples of the kind of image you should be trying to imagine.
Returning to the pig and balloon examples, one might imagine a pig flying away with a balloon, or a pig selling balloons, or children carrying around floating pigs on strings. A bad example would be a pig and a balloon man watching a planet explode. As bizarre as this is, the objects to be associated should be featured prominently in the scene.
Now we use this technique to link together a complete list of items:
grass, treasure, pineapple, cloud, roller skates, cat
To apply the Link System, simply associate each word with the following word. Thus, you must first imagine a scene involving grass and treasure (remember, nothing ordinary!). Next, imagine a scene involving treasure and pineapple, then pineapples and clouds, then clouds and roller skates, then roller skates and cats. Once you've completed this, it should be easy for you, given the first item, to supply the rest of the list, and given the last item, to supply the rest of the list backwards! Try it.
The phonetic system associates each of the ten decimal digits with a set of consonant sounds that represent that digit (no vowel sounds), and the version I present here is an adaptation of that presented in Kenneth L. Higbee's Your Memory: How It Works and How to Improve It. Memorizing these mappings will not only allow you to memorize pi, but any number of any length you desire. These mappings may seem arbitrary, and the mneumonic hints inconsistent, but they are carefully chosen to ensure the system is easier to use later.
| Digit | Sound | Mneumonic Aid |
| 0 | z,s | Zero starts with z |
| 1 | t,d,th | t has one vertical stroke |
| 2 | n,ng | n has two vertical stroke |
| 3 | m | m has three vertical strokes, and is a 3 on its side |
| 4 | r | Four ends in r |
| 5 | l | The Roman numeral for 50 is L |
| 6 | j,sh,ch | All soft sounds (soft six); J looks like a bit like a mirrored 6 |
| 7 | k, hard g | All hard sounds; k is made of two 7's |
| 8 | f,v | Cursive f looks like an 8 |
| 9 | p,b | p,b are 9 rotated and/or flipped |
If you are given a word, say "braggart", then say it, listening to each consonant sound in the word (ignore vowel sounds), and write the corresponding digits in order. In this case we hear the b, r, hard g, r, and t sounds, making the number 94741. Note that the letters in the word don't matter, only the sounds. Thus, "rendezvous", which has only the consonant sounds r,n,d, and v, becomes 4218. Because we know how to memorize words, and we can change words into numbers, we now know how to memorize numbers.
For now turning words into numbers is all you need to know. If you wish to memorize your own numbers, you will need to do the opposite, finding words which map to your number. This is harder, and requires some inventiveness if you want to keep a low number of words, but luckily there is 2Know software, which greatly assists in this, and was used in creating this page.
Because translating digits to words is the hard part, I've taken the liberty of doing this for you. Over time I will add more words. Simply link these words in order in your mind, and when you go back over them, translate them to digits, and you will be confidently, if perhaps slowly, recalling the digits of pi. The leading 3 is included. The number beside each word is the number of digits of pi you will know once you have reached, but not yet memorized, that word.
If anyone has a better suggestion to replace a particular word or set of words, I'd like to hear it
Associate the first word, meteorite, with a pie, or a circle, or something else that reminds you of the constant pi. This allows you to obtain the first word, which is critical.