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In math class, someone was writing down a poem:
Sir, I bear a rhyme excelling
In mystic force and magic spelling
Celestial sprites elucidate
All my own striving can't relate
Then, of course...
What am I?
Later that day, the kid asked if anyone knew. No one did.
The kid didn't know either, and we were stuck thinking about it.
That night, I had a moment of "wow!". I told everyone, and they said it was genius.
So, what is it?
It's another
mnemonic for the decimal expansion of pi: word lengths yield digits.
Some others:
"How I need a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics". "Now I, even I, would celebrate / In rhymes unapt the great / Immortal Syracusan rivaled nevermore / Who in his wondrous lore / Passed on before / Gave men his guidance / How to circles mensurate". (That one doesn't work in British English where "rivalled" has one more letter.) "'I wish I could remember pi ... Eureka!' cried the great inventor. 'Christmas pudding, Christmas pie, is the problem's very centre."
There's always a bit of an issue
about the digit zero. Fortunately, it's a while before there are any. 3.14159265358979323846246338327950...
