Random access

The method I use allows one to quickly find the digit of any position, without having to go through all preceding digits. In the field of computers this is called Random Access Memory, or RAM. If data is recorded on a tape, like on a tape backup, you have something which is more like a sequential memory, even though you can fast forward or rewind to a certain section of the tape.

A RAM memory has to have some kind of addressing logic, and in my system of the imaginary walk I use super chunks, chunks, stations, and digits. A super chunk contains 10 chunks, a chunk contains 10 stations, and a station contains 10 digits. Since I am memorizing 10,000 digits I use 10 super chunks.

If someone asks me for the digit at position 1,732 in Pi, I do like this. First I find super chunk 1 of my imaginary walk. For me, a super chunk is like a district of Stockholm, or something like that. Since I have only 10 super chunks there will be no problem to keep track of them. I might have to use some simple rhyming system or so, but right now I have only come up to 2 super chunks, soon starting on the 3rd one. Anyway, in super chunk 1 of my walk I find chunk 7. I can find it quickly because I have associated each chunk with a digit (0 to 9) by a simple rhyming system which I will not get into here.

A chunk can be a block, a park or similar. In that chunk, I quickly do a sequential counting to find station 3. I see the stations in my mind and count 0, 1, 2, 3. It is important to always count everything from 0, not from 1. Usually I have also memorized where station 5 is located, so that I can count 5, 6, 7 for example if I need to find position 7. I also count backwards from the end sometimes, like 9, 8 to find position 8.

After finding station 3, I remember the micro story there. It usually comes to my mind without effort, simply by natural and automatic association, and to find digit 2 of that story I have to look at the first consonant of the second word. In this case it is a V and since V consists of 2 lines, the digit I search for is 2. So, the 1,732nd decimal in Pi is a 2.

The whole retrieving process usually takes 5-15 seconds.