Chapter 542: Come, Drink the Water Of The Ganges River
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
All keyboards in the world were similar. Even the special keyboards in the libraries had an almost identical layout as this laptop. Pi stared at the keyboard for a while, and soon pressed the first key. Zhang Zian peeped through the door. He couldn’t see the exact key that Pi had pressed, but it should be one of the number keys above the 26 alphabets. There were no additional number keys on the laptop, so even if Zhang Zian could not see, he had a good guess of what Pi was typing: it must be the Pi. Why was Pi typing the Pi? Was it for relaxing in the same way that humans play games to relax? If he remembered correctly, there was a word number restriction in the search toolbar of the default search engine on the explorer’s home page. It could not type indefinitely.
Soon, Pi opened its mouth in surprise with its eyes fixed on the screen. It was pressing on a certain number of the keyboard repeatedly, but could not enter it.
“Eeek!”
After a few failed attempts, it held its head with both hands in frustration, and pulled the short fur on its head with the fingers, like a high school student troubled by difficult math problems.
Zhang Zian thought about it, tiptoed quietly downstairs, then went back upstairs with heavier-than-usual steps. He wanted Pi to hear his steps so that it wouldn’t be scared. He opened the door of the living room, walked in while stretching himself, as if he didn’t know anything, then said to himself out loud, “Finally finished all the work. I’m exhausted…”
Pi had moved away from the computer and sat on the couch next to it. It pretended to be reading, but forgot to close the browser before leaving. Zhang Zian sat back in front of the computer, stared at the screen, then pretended to be surprised. “Well, I remember closing the browser before I left…” He was right. In the search bar of the engine, there was indeed a long string of Pi.
“Eeek!”
Pi acted like a child who did something wrong. It lowered its head, and covered its face with its hands, waiting for Zhang Zian’s criticism.
“Did Pi open the browser? How smart is Pi! None of the other elfins know how to use the computer, but Pi.” Zhang Zian praised it, to its surprise.
“Eeek?”
Pi put down its hands, and gazed at him without moving.
“I mean it. Do you see that African grey parrot who claims to know every language? It can’t even use the mouse, not to mention typing the first 100 digits of Pi with accuracy.” He spoke ill of Richard behind its back. In fact, he didn’t know if the first 100 digits that Pi typed out was accurate. But it didn’t matter, as long as it could boost its confidence.
“Eeek!”
Pi turned cheerful. It held the book with one hand, and beat its chest with the other hand. Zhang Zian thought carefully about its meaning, and probed. “Does Pi mean that you can type more than the first 100 digits?”
“Eeek!” Pi nodded hard.
“Well…how many digits can Pi type?” He asked curiously. “200?”
Pi shook its head, and spread its arms flat.
Does this mean…more than 200 digits?
“500 then?”
“Eeek!”
Pi still shook its head with pride, and extended its arms as much as it could, like the stretching move of the broadcast gymnastics.
“Well…” Zhang Zian tried another guess. “1000?”
“Eeek!”
Pi’s movement was even more exaggerated, clearly asking him to guess bigger. Zhang Zian started sweating because this was hard to believe. He didn’t know what the maximum number of digits was that a human could remember of Pi. He could not imagine how it was possible to recite this irrational number. Then he guessed. “10,000?”
“Eeek! Hehe!”
Pi seemed anxious, and moved even faster, as if his guess was still too small.
“Fine…” Zhang Zian decided to add more than 10 fold each time to save time. Since Pi looked so confident, he would name a huge number. “10 million?” He uttered this number with uncertainty. He was afraid of hurting Pi’s self-esteem if the number was too big. Humans could not recite such a number anyway, as it was over the physical limit of a human brain. Even if some could recite 10 digits per second and spend 8 hours a day reciting, it would take a month to finish the 10 million digits.
“Eeek!”
Pi still shook its head, and lifted its arms while hopping, suggesting to guess bigger.
Zhang Zian: “…”
Even if he trusted Pi, right now, he started doubting if Pi was as fond of bragging as he was. The laptop was still on so he searched in the search engine, that up to this date, Pi calculated up to 60 trillion digits. No matter how smartass Pi was, it could not possibly recite 60 trillion digits, could it?
“Eeek!”
Pi saw his doubt. It beat its chest anxiously, then waved the nameless book in its hand.
“Does this mean that you can’t do it yourself, but with the help of the book, you can do it?”
Zhang Zian had a good idea about Pi’s expressions and movements. He could make proper guesses. Pi was a young monkey after all, as naive and understandable as a human child.
Pi nodded.
“OK, I’ll guess bigger.” Zhang Zian would rather choose to believe. Pi was the only elfin so far with a gold finger, which referred to the crimson nameless book.
Pi nodded expectantly.
“1000 trillion?”
This was his last guess. Even if he got it wrong, he was not going to keep guessing, as he didn’t know a bigger unit of numbers. He didn’t want to embarrass himself. For an instant, Pi’s expression did not change. Just when Zhang Zian thought he had the right guess, Pi grinned and shook its head.
Zhang Zian raised both arms: “I surrender. I can’t do it. Just tell me the answer, Pi.”
“Eeek!”
Pi scratched its head and kept gesturing, as if it was unable to express what was in its heart. In the end, it made a fist with the free hand, then loosened it, as if it held on tight to something, then slowly let it go.
What did this mean? Zhang Zian was totally lost. He was not a sign language expert after all, and Pi’s gestures was not standard sign language.
“Eeek!”
Pi jumped off the couch, held the nameless book with one hand, then supported itself with the other hand on the floor, and ran to the storage room. After a while, it limped back on both feet like a human, with a bag of cat litter in its arms.
Zhang Zian had no idea what it was up to. He watched silently.
Pi tore open the bag of cat litter, and poured some on the desk. It took a handful of cat litter, then let it slip out of its palm and showed Zhang Zian.
Zhang Zian was more confused. He was asking how many digits could Pi recite. What was it doing with the cat litter?
Pi saw that Zhang Zian didn’t understand. It took another handful of cat litter, and let it slip slowly out of its hand.
Zhang Zian seemed to have seen similar gestures in movies and animations, as if someone grabbed a handful of sand, and let it slip through the fingers. Wind blew it everywhere.
Wait a minute!
Zhang Zian suddenly realized something, as if his mind was suddenly enlightened by a flash of lightning! He remembered it now. There was indeed a number related to “sand”! Except that number was big enough to make people dispair…
“Is it as numerous as the sand in Ganges?”
As he spoke, he was shaking uncontrollably, with goosebumps all over his body. The number of sand in Ganges was a Buddhist expression. It was a dual metaphor: if each grain of sand at the banks of Ganges represented a Ganges, Ganges number was the product after multiplying the number of grains of Ganges sand. It was hard to describe accurately how astronomical this number was. It could be deemed as countless.
“Eeek!”
Pi finally nodded. It danced with the nameless book in the air and felt thrilled that Zhang Zian finally got it right. This also meant that it was able to write the Pi digits indefinitely till the end of time, and longer than the life of the universe. Pi was able to write as long as the irrational Pi number was!
Zhang Zian had a mixed feeling in his heart. On one hand, he was deeply amazed. On the other hand, his doubt would not go away as this number was too unbelievable. Did Pi really understand how astronomical the Ganges sand number was? The biggest doubt was — what was the purpose of this?
Generally speaking, in most calculations during high school and university, Pi could be remembered as 3.14. Even in industrial calculations, 10 digits would suffice. In scientific calculations with higher precision, only a few hundred digits were needed. What was the use of going on indefinitely with accuracy?
A person who could recite over 10,000 digits of Pi could apply for a Guinness World Record, become famous and popular on the internet, or pick up girls in parties, or even publish a book on how to improve memory and make money out of it. But what was the purpose for an elfin? To impress other elfins?
Both humans and elfins did things for a reason and a purpose. It must be economical as well. Apparently, reciting Pi until infinity was the cheapest way to impress others, because nobody would know if you were right or not.
But Pi didn’t think so. It was deeply proud about it. It held the nameless book, “eeeked,” and danced around the living room cheerfully.
Zhang Zian’s eyes fell on the book. The answer must be in that book. Even Pi itself admitted that without that book, it was not able to recite the Pi till infinity. This was a book about life, universe and everything. If this was true, then Pi must be in it. Further guessing was useless. When he earned enough trust from Pi, he would certainly ask Pi to let him read the book. If the book could tell him when he would find a girlfriend, that would be the best. He looked at the time. It was time to make tea for Old Time Tea.
“Pi, wait a minute, I’ll be right back.” He walked into the kitchen as he spoke. He filled the kettle with cold water from the tap, and placed it on the gas stove. Right now, he only wanted to drink this bowl of Ganges water to cool himself off.
