Pi wordplay includes mnemonics and word searches based on the digits of pi. In a mnemonic
based on word lengths, the number of letters in each successive word encodes a digit, counting the initial 3. A short mnemonic
for remembering the first seven decimal digits of
is "How I wish I could calculate
pi" (C. Heckman, pers. comm., Feb. 3, 2005). Eight digits
are given by "May I have a large container of coffee?" giving 3.1415926
(Gardner 1959; 1966, p. 92; Eves 1990, p. 122, Davis 1993, p. 9).
"But I must a while endeavour to reckon right" gives nine correct digits
(3.14159265). "May I have a white telephone, or pastel color" (M. Amling,
pers. comm., Jul. 31, 2004) also gives nine correct digits.
A more substantial mnemonic giving 15 digits (3.14159265358979) is "How I want a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics," originally due to Sir James Jeans (Gardner 1966, p. 92; Castellanos 1988, p. 152; Eves 1990, p. 122; Davis 1993, p. 9; Blatner 1997, p. 112). A slight extension of this adds the phrase "All of thy geometry, Herr Planck, is fairly hard," giving 24 digits in all (3.14159265358979323846264). An extension due to S. Bottomley (2001) adds instead the phrase "and if the lectures were boring or tiring, then any odd thinking was on quartic equations again," giving 32 digits (3.1415926535897932384626433832795).
An even more extensive rhyming mnemonic giving 31 digits is "Now I will a rhyme construct, By chosen words the young instruct. Cunningly devised endeavour, Con it and remember ever. Widths in circle here you see, Sketched out in strange obscurity." (Note that the British spelling of "endeavour" is required here.)
The following stanzas are the first part of a poem written by Keith (1995) based on Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven." The entire poem gives 740 digits; the fragment below, including its title, gives the first 80 digits (Keith 1995; Blatner 1997, p. 113). Words with ten letters represent the digit 0, and those with 11 or more letters are taken to represent two digits.
Poe, E.: Near a Raven. Midnights so dreary, tired and weary.
Silently pondering volumes extolling all by-now obsolete lore.
During my rather long nap-the weirdest tap!
An ominous vibrating sound disturbing my chamber's antedoor.
'This,' I whispered quietly, 'I ignore.'
Perfectly, the intellect remembers: the ghostly fires, a glittering ember.
Inflamed by lightning's outbursts, windows cast penumbras upon this floor.
Sorrowful, as one mistreated, unhappy thoughts I heeded:
That inimitable lesson in elegance--Lenore--
Is delighting, exciting... nevermore.
Hatzipolakis (1996) compiled an extensive collection of 
mnemonics in many languages.
Other mnemonics in various languages are given by Castellanos
(1988) and Blatner (1997, pp. 112-118).
Keith (1999) searched the base 26 expansion of 
for words, representing digits
by 
, 
, ..., 
, so that
 |
For Keith's dictionary and exclusion of proper names, the first 
-letter words for 
, 2, ... are o, lo, rod, trod, steel, oxygen, subplot, ...
(Keith 1999). The choice of dictionary matters. For example, the obsolete word helly
occurs before steel but was excluded from Keith's list. Additional 5-letter words
are feign (9248), kooks (12288), bread (18988), dolor (27079), and so on. Additional
6-letter words are: medics (48464), prinky, thingy (121273), ampler (125998), rebuts
(169912), polity (212835), and so on. The positions of the starting letter of the
first 
-letter words, counting the first fractional
digit as position 1, are 6, 5, 11, 10, 6570, 11582, 115042,
... (OEIS A103132).
A mnemonic in French is given by "Moi, j'aime a faire connaitre un nombre utile aux sages," which gives 11 digits and can be roughly translated as "Me, I like to teach a number useful to wise men." Here the apostrophe separates the single letter j from aime for counting purposes. This can be extended to 15 digits by appending, "immortel Archimède, artiste, ingénieur" (immortal Archimedes, artist, engineer).
