What Is Piphilology?

Piphilology is the study of remembering the mathematical sequence of digits called pi. Most languages use pi poems and pi songs to aid memorization. In English and many other roman alphabet based languages, pi poems are constructed in a way that the number of letters in each word corresponds to the value of pi. Check out some of the best English Pi Songs and Pi Poems.

When it comes to piphilology, Ada the Piphilologian must look to the Japanese people. By happy circumstance the Japanese language allows multiple pronunciations for each number, thus Japanese pi poems are almost a direct reciting of the value of pi. This might be one reason why piphilology is relatively more common among Japanese schoolchildren. It is probably no coincidence that the current Guiness world champion Pi-memorizer is Japanese. Mr. Akira Haraguchi has memorized over 100,000 digits! Ada the Piphilologian loves how he memorizes pi as a long saga of a samurai who now must depart his own country!