World Pi Federation

In recent years, more and more people have realised the benefits of physical fitness. Even though most people do not need to run or lift heavy objects in their daily lives, their lives are improved by being in good physical shape. Just as physical training strengthens the body, mental training strengthens the mind. There are many kinds of mental sports but memory sports are particularly important. Memory training improves the ability to learn and connect ideas, not just the ability to memorize numbers.

The World Pi Federation was founded because there was a need for an organization which organizes events for long term memory sports. The existing associations focus mainly on the contestants' ability to memorize information quickly. This means that the contestants do not know the information they will be learning before the event. In contrast the World Pi Federation organizes events where the contestants are expected to know the digits of pi at the time of the competition. This means that they can practice for as long as they want to.

The events organized by the World Pi Federation are public events. The competitions are controlled by the World Pi Federation to ensure fairness. If a contestant write pi on paper the sheets will be scanned and published online. If the contestant wishes to speak it aloud a recording will be published online instead. This ensures that the rankings by the pi federation can be verified independently.

In order to test the long term memory it is necessary to have a common piece of information to memorize. The number pi is ideal for this purpose, since its digits do not have meaning and go on forever. If there was meaning in the number it would be easier to memorize.

Foundation

In August, 2010, Marcel Keitsch and Mark Aarøe Nissen founded World Pi Federation in Hamborg, Germany. They had a common interest and a common goal for the future.