Piem

Pi em, or piem (pi poem), is a mnemonic verse used to remember the digits of the mathematical constant pi (π). In a piem, the length of each word encodes a successive digit of pi, typically starting with 3.14159. Piems can be a single line or a longer stanza and are valued for both their memorization aid and their playful linguistic form.

Construction and conventions: To create a piem, a writer maps each digit to a word with the corresponding number of letters. Common practice begins with a three-letter word for the initial 3. Each subsequent digit prompts another word whose letter count matches that digit. Hyphenation, apostrophes, and punctuation may affect counting, and different communities adopt different counting rules. Some creators use ten-letter words to represent the digit 0, while others adjust the sequence accordingly. The result is a text that can be read as poetry while encoding a numeric sequence.

History and usage: The term piem and the broader practice fall under piphilology, the memorization of pi’s digits. Piems have appeared in mathematical folklore and educational contexts since the mid-20th century. They are used to illustrate mnemonic techniques and to provide a creative method for engaging with number sequences. Notable examples include publicly circulated lines such as How I need a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics, which encodes a substantial portion of pi’s digits.

See also: piphilology, mnemonic devices, pi.