Pi Max

PRESENTATION 2
Introduction ...............................................................................2
Effect 1 ........................................................................................2
Effect 2 ........................................................................................2
Effect 3 ........................................................................................2

METHOD 3
History ........................................................................................3
Video explanation .....................................................................4
Simple alphabetic code.............................................................4
Introduction ...............................................................................6
Effect 1: beginning of the page ................................................8
Main effect..........................................................................8
Bonus effect: text revelation .............................................10
Effect 2: reciting Pi...................................................................11
Effect 3: birthday .....................................................................12

BONUS 14
Effect 4: reciting backwards...................................................14
Effect 5: partial recitation .......................................................14
Effect 6: lie detector.................................................................14

FINAL NOTES 15
Frequent questions..................................................................15
Does the book really exist? ...............................................15
What if the participant veri es Pi on the internet? .........15
Does the book contain the real decimals of Pi?.................15
Facebook group .......................................................................15
Free online training.................................................................15

© 2023 Vincent Hedan

Use of this content is permitted in non-recorded, non-broadcast (video or audio), and non-ticketed performances:
corporate gigs or informal situations (magic club, family, friends, etc.). If this content is presented as part of a
recorded and/or broadcast performance and/or with ticketing, it must be discussed in advance with the author.

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 PRESENTATION

Introduction
“Do you all know Pi?” 3.14 etc. You know, that thing we learn in school that never serves us in real life!
… Pi is a fascinating number, because it has an in nite number of decimals, and it never repeats itself.
This means that any sequence can be found somewhere in the decimals of Pi. Your birthday … your credit
card number … your phone number…
Some people, like me, have taken to memorizing Pi. There is a contest and champions, people who can
recite thousands and thousands of digits of Pi. In 2006, a retired Japanese man named Akira Haraguchi
recited 100,000 digits of Pi. It took him 16 hours.
I’m not that good, I don’t know 100,000 decimals, I only know 17,000. In this book are listed the rst
17,000 decimals of Pi. I have a photographic memory and when I look at a page, I memorize the digits on
the page, the page number, etc. I haven’t nished learning the book by heart yet, I put a bookmark at the
beginning of the section that I don’t know well. The book also contains some interesting facts about Pi.”

Effect 1
“Take the book, open it to any page with decimals before the bookmark, give me the page number and I’ll
try to remember the rst digits on that page. Page 21? It starts with 3 8 6, right?”

Effect 2
“Actually, it’s quite easy because it’s the beginning of the page so it comes to me very quickly. Let’s try
something else. If I tell you N O P Q R, you recognize N O P Q R as being a segment of the alphabet,
right? And once you know where you are in the alphabet, you can continue to recite: S T U V… It’s the
same here. In my head I have a sequence of 17,000 decimal places of Pi. If you give me 5 consecutive
digits, anywhere on any line on any page, I should be able to locate myself in Pi and recite from the place
you have chosen. You follow me? Go ahead, give me 5 consecutive numbers, anywhere on any page
(before the bookmark), one by one. 1 5 3 4 6? And then you have 4 1 2 3 4, right? I will continue to recite
the decimals; If I’m wrong, just tell me ‘Stop,’ okay? We continue: 7 3 2 0 2 1 0 4… No? Am I wrong on
the 4? It wasn’t 4, what was it? 2? Alright, I’ll pick it up from there: 2 4 6 1 2 6 9 1 4 2 1 5 7… I can go
all the way to the end of the book so stop me when you’ve had enough…”

Effect 3
“You remember, at the beginning, I told you that everything is contained in Pi. Your birthday too. For
example, my birthday is October 16, which gives us the sequence 1 0 1 6. I looked, I’m not in the book,
because the sequence 1 0 1 6 is after the rst 17,000 decimal places of Pi. So I can’t promise anything for
yours. What is your birthday? April 12? 04/12… So 0 4 1 2… If I remember correctly, you will nd your
birthday on page 62, on the eighth line, starting from the seventh digit. That’s right? Perfect!”

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 METHOD

History
In 2010, I was living in Sydney, Australia. At that time, my Australian friend Sean Taylor created
a Pi-themed book test with Richard Paddon. During a session with Sean and Richard, they
discussed this theme with me, without describing their effect and method in detail. A few days
later, intrigued by the subject, I created my own version. Then, comparing our creations, Sean,
Richard and I agreed that our effects, methods and books were different and that it was no
problem for our creations to coexist. (By the way, I highly recommend the books MindStorms
and MindCoaster written by Sean and that I have translated into French, they are available at
seantaylor.com.au/books; Sean is an experienced professional and the ideas he shares have
their place in the repertoire of any serious mentalist.)
The genius Michael Weber had already invented a memory routine with Pi, long before us.
Unfortunately I never had the opportunity to see it and I know very little about it. He knows
my routine and we discussed it, no problems there.
Since then, a few “creators” have released versions that bear a suspicious resemblance to the
approach of Sean, Richard, Michael, or myself. Some “artists” have also decided to present my
routine illegally and without my consent (on television or in shows); on this subject, I refer you
to the legal notices on the rst page of these instructions.

My very rst version (in 2010) was a miniature book (about ten centimeters wide and ve
centimeters tall) which did not allow the reveal of the birthday.
Around 2015, I had the idea of revealing the birthday, to conclude the routine with an effect that
focuses on the participant. This 2015 release was a pocket format. The routine seems to have
been received well by our community: hundreds of you are using it, in over forty countries, as it
is one of the few book tests that can function in any language.
On Pi Day (March 14) 2023, I’m releasing Pi Max, the version you’re reading right now. Why
“Max”? Because the method has been simpli ed to the maximum, with a maximum number of
effects (including 3 bonuses and 1 novelty), and maximum impact in the presentation.

When I created this routine, I wanted a memory demonstration that was believable (like my
Rainman demonstration, with which I won rst prize in mentalism at the FFAP national
championship in 2008). If you had really memorized Pi, you would present the routine the same
way. No accomplice, no assistant, no visible or hidden electronics. If you’ve got Pi’s book and
your brains, you’re set.
I present this demonstration as if I were sharing with the audience a subject that I am passionate
about and that I want them to discover; I don’t use this routine to show that I’m smart or
superior to the audience. In the same vein, I conclude with the participant’s birthday; the rst
two phases focus on me, the third phase focuses on my participant.

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 Video explanation
You can stream the video explanation on the website hedan.fr/pi/esv
Please note that this is only a partial companion to the written explanation below, where the
presentation script is studied in detail.

Simple alphabetic code

The rst two effects are based on the fact that the book does not really contain the decimals of
Pi. From page 3 to 49, the digits have been placed in a precise order, thanks to a simple
alphabetic code.

You need to memorize ve pairs of words:

OBESE GOATS
INEPT BEING
NOISE AGAIN
EATEN ONION
AGING PIANIST

If you have an auditory memory, you can repeat these words aloud several times (or record
yourself), like a strange poem, until you know them by heart. If your memory works better in
writing, you can copy this list several times, until you know it by heart. If you have a visual
memory, you can visualize a situation or image for each pair of words; for example, imagine a
goat with a weight problem (OBESE GOATS), think of the worst person you can think of (INEPT
BEING), remember how you used to cover your ears when a loud noise would come again
(NOISE AGAIN), picture yourself eating a raw onion (EATEN ONION), and imagine an old lady
who is still great at playing the piano (AGING PIANIST).

Each letter used in these words looks like a number between 0 and 9.

letter
O I N E A S G T B P
modi ed
letter
O I N E A S G T B P
modi ed
value
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Value
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

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 O The letter O looks like a 0

I The letter I looks like a 1

N The letter N looks like a 2 on its side

E The letter E looks like a mirrored 3

A The letter A looks like a 4

S The letter S looks like a 5

G The letter G looks like a 6

T The letter T looks like a 7

B The letter B looks like an 8

P The letter P looks like a mirrored 9

Thanks to this visual system, you do not need to memorize the value of each letter, because the
shape of the letter tells you its value.

This simple alphabetic code allows you to transform numbers into letters, and vice versa.
For example, if the participant says G 0 4 7 5, you can visualise that sequence and "see" the
word G O A T S. And if you think of the word N O I S E, you can decode it into numbers
visually, to announce 2 0 1 5 3.

This group of words has several properties that will be useful for the rst two effects. First, each
word contains ve letters (except PIANIST which contains seven letters). Second, each line in
the group starts with a different letter, and therefore a different value: O-0, i-1, N-2, E-3, A-4.

OBESE GOATS
INEPT BEING
NOISE AGAIN
EATEN ONION
AGING PIANIST

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Third, the group of words repeats cyclically in the book:

Let's get back to the routine.

Introduction
Before you begin, put a small, brightly colored Post-it note on page 50, so that the Post-it note
protrudes slightly from the top of the page.
Let’s erase the link in the bottom corner of the last page of the Pi book. To erase it, you have
several options.
First solution: simply tear the corner of that page.
Second solution: take a Sharpie and cover the download instructions in black; if anyone asks
you about it (no one will), just say that the book came like this when you borrowed it, or that
you did it to cover an annoying ad.
The third solution is to print the le hedan.fr/pi/scratchen.jpg and use it to cover the
download link.

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 Now let’s look at the introductory text because it is important, even if it does not contain any
effects per se.

“Do you all know Pi?”

When mentioning Pi, point to the symbol on the cover of the book to make sure everyone
understands what you’re talking about.

“3.14 etc. You know, that thing we learn in school that never serves us in real life! …”
This funny remark is also meant to build empathy with the audience, because most participants
will agree with you: few of us use Pi on a daily basis. When I created the routine, I thought it
would only appeal to people with an af nity for math. Over time, I found that even the
(numerous) math-hating people were impressed with the convincing memorization of an
in nite value.

“Pi is a fascinating number, because it has an in nite number of decimals, and it never repeats itself. This
means that any sequence can be found somewhere in the decimals of Pi. Your birthday … your credit card
number … your phone number…”
By talking about the birthday at the beginning of the introduction, you introduce an idea that
you will come back to at the end, which will allow you to nicely “wrap things up.”

“Some people, like me, have taken to memorizing Pi. There is a contest and champions, people who can
recite thousands and thousands of digits of Pi. In 2006, a retired Japanese man named Akira Haraguchi
recited 100,000 digits of Pi. It took him 16 hours.”
Haraguchi is mentioned on page 46 of the book, if you want to show his picture. In addition to
evoking an impressive fact related to the presentation, it allows you to implicitly show that the
book is normal.

“I’m not that good, I don’t know 100,000 decimals, I only know 17,000.”
This false modesty refocuses the effect on you and amuses the audience.

“In this book are listed the rst 17,000 decimals of Pi. I have a photographic memory and when I look at a
page, I memorize the digits on the page, the page number, etc. I haven’t nished learning the book by heart
yet, I put a bookmark at the beginning of the section that I don’t know well. The book also contains some
interesting facts about Pi.”
During this sequence, you show different pages of the book, as well as the presence of the
bookmark. Don’t worry about the difference in layout between the rst fty pages and the last
thirty pages. Nobody ever asked me about it and anyway you can always say it’s an editor’s
choice (which it is); you are only the reader/user of the book, not its author.
You also mention that your memory isn’t perfect beyond the bookmark; this will be important
in the following phases.

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Effect 1: beginning of the page
Main effect
“Take the book, open it to any page with decimals before the bookmark, give me the page number and I’ll
try to remember the rst digits on that page.”
These instructions are very simple and straightforward. Unknowingly, the participant is forced
to give you an odd page number before page 50, because those are the pages with decimals
before the bookmark.
So the participant gives you a page number. The ten of the page number indicates the line
concerned in the group of words (line 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4). The unit of the page number (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
7, 8, 9 or 0) indicates the column concerned in the group of words (between 1 and 10).

UNIT

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

0 O B E S E G O A T S
1 I N E P T B E I N G
T
E
2 N O I S E A G A I N
N

3 E A T E N O N I O N
4 A G I N G P I A N I S T

Here are some examples:

Page 13. The ten is 1, go to line 1: INEPT BEING. The unit is 3, go to the 3rd letter in the line: it's
an E. Page 13 starts with E, followed by P T (INEPT). You can announce the numbers 3 9 7
(corresponding to E P T).

Page 5. The ten is 0, go to line 0: OBESE GOATS. The unit is 5, go to the 5th letter in the line: it's
an E. Page 5 starts with E, followed by G O (OBESE GOATS). You can then announce the
numbers 3 6 0 (corresponding to E G O).

Page 49. The ten is 4, go to line 4: AGING PIANIST. The unit is 9, go to the 9th letter in the line:
it's an N. Page 49 starts with N, followed by I S (PIANIST). You can announce the numbers 2 1 5
(corresponding to N I S).

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 Notice two things. First, since all words (except PIANIST) contain ve letters, it is easy to count
to any letter on a line; for example, to nd the 6th letter of a line, rst you count a block of ve
letters then you take the next letter, the 6th.
Second, each line begins with a letter of the same value as that line. Line 0 starts with O (which
looks like a 0), line 1 starts with I (which looks like a 1), line 2 starts with N (which looks like a 2
on its side), line 3 starts with E (which looks like a 3), and line 4 starts with A (which looks like
a 4). This can help you nd the line quickly, since it starts with a letter of the same value.
Both of these pieces of information can help you navigate the group of words more quickly.

Now let’s look at some exceptions. If you have directed the participant well, if you are not in
con ict with him and if he is not stupid or mean, these cases will be very rare. Even if they
happen, it is very simple to deal with them.

Page 1
In general, if the spectator chooses page 1, they are trying to trap you, because it is the
beginning of Pi: 3, 1 4 1 5 9 2 6 5 3…
Fortunately, that’s not a problem. When he gives you page 1, just say it’s too easy, because it’s
the beginning, and ask him to go further in the book to make the demonstration interesting. You
can also decide to memorize the rst ten decimals of Pi so that you can recite them if he chooses
this page.
I decided that the rst page should contain the real decimals of Pi, in case some smart guy
(knowing ten or more decimals) decides to examine the book. Here is an anecdote about it. In
2012, I presented my lecture at a magic convention in London. During the meal after, I found
myself sitting next to Arthur Benjamin, a very likable math genius. When I started presenting
my Pi routine at the table, he was very curious to see the book, politely borrowed it from me
and opened it to the rst page. He happened to know the rst hundred digits of Pi by heart! So I
let him read and check the rst page, then casually interrupted him before he turned the page
and I continued the routine. He con rmed that these were indeed the decimals of Pi and the
demonstration impressed everyone, thanks to the validation of the expert…

Page after 49
These pages are beyond the bookmark indicating the section you say you haven’t fully
memorized yet. So the participant may be trying to get you in trouble. Again, remind him that
you are not familiar with this section, change participants if possible and get back to the routine.

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 Bonus effect: text revelation
Even page
You had speci cally requested a page with decimals of Pi and those pages are all odd. If the
spectator gives you an even number, he is trying to trick you or has misunderstood your
instructions. Luckily, you can still make an interesting reveal.
“Page 24? Ah, I asked you for a page with decimals, on page 24 there is some text and an image. It’s
about calculating the decimals of Pi. If I remember correctly, he’s a Dutch scientist, there’s an illustration
of his face. In the 16th century, he spent his life calculating the decimals of Pi. Is that right?”
You can make these additional revelations because the even pages follow a logic that gives you
their theme.
If the even page ends in 2, the text talks about the de nition of Pi. If it ends in 4, it talks about
the calculation of decimals. If it ends in 6, it talks of the memorization of Pi. If it ends in 8, it
talks of a place related to Pi. If it ends in 0, it talks of Pi Day (March 14).
Also, if a name or place is mentioned in the text, there is always an illustration of the face or a
photo of the place. The other even pages are not illustrated.

In summary:
2 = de nition
4 = calculation
6 = memorization
8 = location
0 = Pi Day

Thanks to this simple trick, you can (if you wish) make some revelations on the even page
chosen accidentally or slyly by the spectator. Either you correct the participant by reminding
them to choose a page with decimals of Pi, or you just reveal the theme (the audience will be
impressed that you memorized that too), or you take it a step further and reveal additional
details, because you will have made the effort to memorize them in advance. There are only 24
pages involved and each contains interesting information, so it is not very dif cult to remember
them.
Let’s take the example of page 24. Correcting the participant would sound like: “Ah, I asked you
for a page with decimals, on page 24 there is some text.” You can then let the participant choose a
page with decimals, or continue with their even page, in which case the easy revelation would
just be the theme: “It’s about calculating Pi’s decimals.” If you’ve memorized more information
beforehand, you can go further: “If I remember correctly, he is a Dutch scientist, there is an
illustration of his face. In the 16th century, he spent his life calculating the decimals of Pi. Is that right?”

Even if you decide never to reveal the contents of the text pages, I strongly encourage you to
read them for yourself. There you will nd a wealth of interesting facts that you can then
incorporate into your presentation. For example, the memory champion Akira Haraguchi is
found on page 46, and the possibility of nding the birthday in Pi is discussed on page 42.

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 Effect 2: reciting Pi
“Actually, it’s quite easy because it’s the beginning of the page so it comes to me very quickly. Let’s try
something else. If I tell you N O P Q R, you recognize N O P Q R as being a segment of the alphabet,
right? And once you know where you are in the alphabet, you can continue to recite: S T U V…”
To introduce the second effect, I use this brilliant example suggested by Pit Hartling in his
excellent book Card ctions. Pit was himself inspired by Roberto Giobbi and this dramatization
is said to have been imagined by J. N. Hofzinser. Once the participant gets this idea, you can
transpose it to Pi for the second effect.

“It’s the same here. In my head I have a sequence of 17,000 decimal places of Pi. If you give me 5
consecutive digits, anywhere on any line on any page, I should be able to locate myself in Pi and recite
from the place you have chosen.”
This second phase is much stronger and much freer than the rst. If you just give the rst digits
of a page, people might think there is a mathematical connection between the page number and
the rst digits. By offering to recite Pi from anywhere in the book, you announce an impressive
feat.

“You follow me? Go ahead, give me 5 consecutive numbers, anywhere on any page (before the bookmark),
one by one. 1 5 3 4 6?”
Listen carefully to the numbers given by the spectator. Transform them into letters thanks to the
simple alphabetic code described earlier. “1 5 3 4 6.” You get I S E A G. Here you recognize the
ISE as the end of the word NOISE and the AG as the beginning of the following word, AGAIN.
Now that you know where the spectator is in the group, you can continue to recite from this
position. I S E A G is followed by AIN, so you announce 4 1 2. It is followed by EATEN ONION,
so 3 4 7 3 2 0 2 1 0 2. You can recite the entire group until the nal letter, the T of PIANIST.
If you want to go beyond that, it is quite simple, remember that the group repeats itself in the
book: go back to the beginning of the group and keep reciting.
You can “recite Pi” until the end of page 49 if you wish. You’ll start repeating yourself when
you’ve recited 52 digits (all the values of your group), but no one will really notice, because the
spectators can’t memorize everything you recite.

We all think a little differently; nding the 5-digit sequence in the word group isn’t dif cult, but
it may take some practice for some people. You can use the following mental technique. Convert
the spectator’s 5-digit sequence into letters. Visualize this 5-letter block. Then, underneath,
scroll horizontally through the words in your group, until you nd the spot with the 5-letter
block “aligns itself” with a section of your group. Once the right place is located, you can recite
the rest.

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 “I will continue to recite the decimals; If I’m wrong, just tell me ‘Stop,’ okay?”
It is very important that the participant is really checking what you are reciting, otherwise the
audience will think that you are announcing random numbers. Make it clear to the spectator
that he should not hesitate to stop you if you are wrong.
If you make a mistake, no problem, stop, correct yourself and start again.

“I can go all the way to the end of the book so stop me when you’ve had enough…”
I advise you to recite about forty digits. For this, no need to count everything in your head,
recite digits until the spectator is forced to turn the page to follow you, then recite another word
or two. The moment when the spectator turns the page to follow you is very strong for the
audience because it con rms that you are really reciting the book, and reciting so many digits
that you skip to the next page!

There is a rare case where you won’t be able to nd a match between the sequence named by
the spectator and the stack. This is because the spectator has chosen numbers on the rst page
of the book, which contains the real decimals of Pi. When you realize this, you can tell him that
he is on the rst page (which is an impressive revelation), then ask him to take another 5-digit
sequence from elsewhere in the book. It’s a very rare case (it’s never happened to me) if you’ve
directed the spectator well, if you’re not in con ict with them, and if they’re not stupid or mean.

Effect 3: birthday
“You remember, at the beginning, I told you that everything is contained in Pi. Your birthday too.”
You introduce the third and nal phase by recalling the discussion you had at the beginning.

“For example, my birthday is October 16, which gives us the sequence 1 0 1 6. I looked, I’m not in the
book, because the sequence 1 0 1 6 is after the rst 17,000 decimal places of Pi. So I can’t promise
anything for yours.”
Your birthday serves as an example to announce the rest. In fact, all birthdays can be found
between pages 51 and 81, but whatever your birthday, say it’s not in the book. This enhances
the credibility of the book.
Also, since you said you haven’t memorized the section beyond the bookmark quite well yet,
you’ll have good reason to be a bit slower and take your time for the little math needed that’s
described below.

“What is your birthday? April 12? 04/12… So 0 4 1 2… If I remember correctly, you will nd your
birthday on page 62, on the eighth line, starting from the seventh digit.”
Here’s how to nd the position of the participant’s birthday.
To nd the page, take the day and add 50. In our example, the birthday is April 12; you add 12
and 50 so you get page 62.

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 To nd the line, multiply the month by 2. In our example, April 12 is on line 8 (April is the
fourth month of the year, and 4 x 2 = 8).
To nd the column (the position on the line where the birthday is), take the month and add 3. In
our example, April 12 is at the seventh digit of its line (April is the fourth month of the year, and
4 + 3 = 7).

In summary: Page = Day + 50, Line = Month x 2, Column = Month + 3

Let’s see some other examples:

January 1: 0101
Day + 50 = 1 + 50 = 51. Month x 2 = 1 x 2 = 2. Month + 3 = 1 + 3 = 4. January 1 can be found on
page 51, line 2, from the 4th digit.

December 31: 1231

Day + 50 = 31 + 50 = 81. Month x 2 = 12 x 2 = 24. Month + 3 = 12 + 3 = 15. December 31 is on
page 81, line 24 (last line), starting with the 15th digit.

June 30: 0630

Day + 50 = 30 + 50 = 80. Month x 2 = 6 x 2 = 12. Month + 3 = 6 + 3 = 9. June 30 is on page 80,
line 12, starting at the 9th digit.

Dates in Month/Day format

A minority of the world’s population (including the United States) uses the Month/Day format
rather than the Day/Month format. For Day/Month countries, October 16 is therefore written
as 16/10 rather than 10/16. Luckily, one of the new features of Pi Max is that you can now
reveal dates in Day/Month and Month/Day format. When looking for a date in Day/Month
format, the calculation of the page and the line remain the same. For the column, take the
month and add 1 instead of 3. So you can perform the effect with a European audience, just by
changing the column calculation.

Layout
If you have understood the simple calculations to nd the date, you realize that dates take only
6 digits on their line, and only on even lines. All other digits on even and odd lines have been
placed randomly; their chaos hides the dates on the page.

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 BONUS

Personally, I love the routine’s three-phase structure: beginning of the page, recite Pi, birthday.
The effects get stronger and stronger, and you end up focusing on the participant.
However, the method offers us other possibilities. I will describe them here for the sake of
completeness. It’s up to you to decide if you want to integrate them into your demonstration.

Effect 4: reciting backwards

With practice, reciting the word group in phase 2 becomes second nature. You can also offer the
audience to recite… backwards! It doesn’t require much more effort from you to remember
because you’re just navigating your word group backwards; for the audience, reciting Pi
backwards is very impressive and really gives the impression that you have the sequence
completely under control.

Effect 5: partial recitation

In the same way, you can also propose to the audience to recite … every second digit! (Or every
third digit.) Again, this is very impressive for the audience; for you, it’s just a matter of reciting
every second letter in your word group.

Effect 6: lie detector

Effects 4 and 5 are just variations of the stack recitation. Effect 6 is really different.
As in phase 2, ask the spectator to give you a block of 5 digits anywhere before the bookmark
BUT they must lie about one digit, without telling you which one. Listen to the 5-digit
sequence. Let’s imagine he says 1 5 3 0 6. Transform this sequence in letters and you get I S E O
G. If you look for this sequence, you won’t nd it because it contains an error. However, with
practice, you will be able to recognize the sequence “off by one letter.” In our example, ISE can
only match with NOISE. This is followed by the A of AGAIN, not by the 0 (O) announced by the
spectator.
You can then reveal that the spectator lied about that O, and you can further reveal that it was
actually an A!

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 FINAL NOTES

Frequent questions
Does the book really exist?
If a participant decides to verify that the book really exists and goes on the internet by searching
for the title 17,000 digits of Pi or the listed author (Nina Chevendt), he will indeed nd the same
book on Amazon. The 9€ version corresponds to the normal book so, if he buys it, he will
receive the real decimals of Pi.

What if the participant veri es Pi on the internet?

The fear that a participant would use the internet to verify the contents of the book is
unfounded, for several reasons.
The rst effect (giving the rst digits of a page) cannot be veri ed on the internet, because even
if the internet does offer sites listing Pi to several million decimals, no site can con rm that the
rst digits of a page in this book are the good ones or not.
For the second effect, the internet cannot help the participant prove that you are not really
reciting Pi. For this, the participant would have to nd a site listing at least the rst 17,000
decimals of Pi, then nd the sequence of 5 digits that he has just chosen, then check that the
digits that you announce are the correct ones. And he would have to do all of this while
following your effect, and without you seeing him doing his research.
For the third effect, it is the same trap as the rst. You announce a page, a line and a position on
the line for his birthday. This is information speci c to the book you are using and is therefore
unveri able on the internet.

Does the book contain the real decimals of Pi?

The idea of a “normal” version of the book was suggested to me by David Blaine when we met
in New York in 2014. So you can buy the normal version of the book, containing the real
decimals of Pi. You can’t do the routine with this normal book but it’s a good gift idea for the
participant.

Facebook group
If you want to chat and exchange with other users of my routine, you can join our Facebook
group using this link: hedan.fr/pif

Free online training

You can train for free online by visiting hedan.fr/pi/est

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