Music video to “Lose Yourself (In The Digits)” (by Pi Diddy at TeachPi.org), made for Pi Day 2008 by enthusiastic math students at Fort Vancouver High School. High quality version downloadable from WWW.FORTMATH.COM
Lose Yourself (In The Digits)
Look, if you had…one shot…one opportunity…
To recite the digits of the number pi… One moment…
Would you capture it… or just let it slip?
His palms are sweaty, knees weak, head is heavy
The numbers cloud his vision already, keep it steady
He’s nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready
To re-cite, but it’s not quite off-settin’
That he’s froze now, and the whole crowd knows he vowed
To get it perfect, but the numbers won’t come out
He’s chokin’, how – everybody’s jokin’ now
Three point one five—woops—kablouw!
Snap back to reality, oh, it’s a malady
Oh, it’s so random, he choked
He can’t stand, but he won’t give up
That easy, no
He won’t have it, he knows – all his fans really hope
He can shatter the glob…
…al world record of Fo’…
…rty-two-thousand*, although
If-he-looks down at his notes, he knows that’s when it’s
Back to the learnin’ by rote
To feel rapture
He’d better capture those digits a little faster
You better lose yourself in the digits of pi, it’s a high
But you got a thousand more to go
The numbers do not stop
Or drop into pattern, no
And memorizin’ ‘em takes most of a lifetime
If I’m not mistaken, my memory’s wakin’
This number’s mine for the taking
Hear it ring, as I list all the, digits in order
And whole numbers are borin’, approximations just keep me snorin’,
Pi only grows longer to get more precise
A rounded-off fraction just won’t cut the ice
So twenty-two sevenths, you take my advice
If I catch you round here, you will
Pay the price, so give up this façade,
Ray-shee-os are oh so flawed
They close the door to those who like infinite
Strings of oh’s, 2s, 9s, 3’s, and 6’s, it
Shows the woes of-all-the schmoes who chose
To forgo Pi’s logic, and I
Don’t suppose those bozos applaud it
When I throw down the gauntlet, with a
“Three point one four”… I got it!
You better lose yourself in the digits of pi, it’s a high
But you got a thousand more to go
The numbers do not stop
Or drop into pattern, no
And memorizin’ ‘em takes most of a lifetime
Pi is 3.141592653589793238462643383279…
No more games, I’m-a bust right outta my cage, and
Get my Pi-recitin’ groove on, on this here stage
I was playin’ in the beginnin’, the mood all changed
I been broken up from soakin’ up this whole page
But I kept churnin’ and kept learnin’ to decipher
The rhythm of the number that makes me so hyper
All the pain and strife amplified by the
Fact that I can’t get back to my life, I’m
Whacked and I don’t exactly know why, I’m
Acting like I am attracted to Pi! So
Back to a kid jam-packed with random numbers
I think this whole process is makin’ me dumber
It still shakes me up, man, it makes me sentimental
That a number so essential is also transcendental
Caught up between bein’ in fashion and bein’ irrational
It’s passion flashin’ through my brain
Whenever I explain it
I just think pi is nice, Would you… like a slice?
I’ve gotten to the point, it’s like a vice, I’m not
Afraid of gettin’ caught, but still it hurts a lot
Success is my only mathematic option, failure’s not
Pi, I love you, but these people got to know
A million tiny circles haunt my every thought
So here I go with my shot
Brain, fail me not,
This may be the only opportunity that I got!
You better lose yourself in the digits of pi, it’s a high
But you got a thousand more to go
The numbers do not stop
Or drop into pattern, no
And memorizin’ ‘em takes most of a lifetime
Pi is… 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459…yeeeah.
You can do anything you set your mind to, man. Even memorizin’ pi. I’m out.
* We realize that the new world record (though not yet verified) is 100,000 digits. The song was written when the record was 42,815. We stayed with the original number, because frankly, it fits the rhyme better!
“Lose Yourself (In The Digits)” lyrics are the property of TeachPi.org.
