High School Student Recites 8,784 digits of Pi

AP ^ | 16 MAr 2006 | Unknown

[ketelone]

Student Recites 8,784 Digits of Pi Wed Mar 15, 10:02 PM ET

SALEM, Va. - A high school student Tuesday recited 8,784 digits of Pi — the non-repeating and non-terminating decimal — likely placing him among the top Pi-reciters in the world.

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Gaurav Rajav, 15, had hoped to recite 10,790 digits and set a new record in the United States and North America. But he remembered enough to potentially place third in national and North American Pi recitation and 12th in the world.

His ranking should be verified by the Pi World Ranking List within two months.

"I'm kind of disappointed, but I guess I did OK," said Gaurav, a junior at Salem High School.

But his mathematical feat won the praise of others, including the math and computer science teacher who got Gaurav interested in it.

"I'm still stunned," said Linda Gooding, one of three contest judges. She then joked, "That's a couple more than I can do."

Gaurav began memorizing Pi while a student in Gooding's class. Gooding holds the competition every year, and said she expected students to learn about 40 digits. Gaurav recited nearly 2,990 the first time.

Gaurav's parents promised him an Xbox 360 video game console if he had reached his goal. His father, Jogesh Rajav, jokingly offered to get him "an Xbox, but no game."

But Gaurav ultimately turned town his mother Seema's offer to buy him the game system anyway because of their deal.

He will try for the record again in May.

[ketelone]

This kid has got to have one hell of a memory!!

[Izzy Dunne]

his mathematical feat

Somebody 'splain to me what this (magnificent) memorization feat has to do with mathematics.

[ketelone]

"Gaurav began memorizing Pi while a student in Gooding's class. Gooding holds the competition every year, and said she expected students to learn about 40 digits. Gaurav recited nearly 2,990 the first time "

[nwrep]

Yes, but does he know the names of the American Idol contestants? Isn't that what is really important? /sarc

[ketelone]

Yes, well.. theres a great deal that memorisation can be good for in mathematics... but you are correct... it is a feat of memory. And quite an incredible one.

[cweese]

What exactly does a pi reciter recite?

[right right]

wow! and he could have done something meaningles with that talent

[mathprof]

Somebody 'splain to me what this (magnificent) memorization feat has to do with mathematics.

I agree.  It sounds like a waste of time and potential talent. 

[ketelone]

Well, hes fifteen now.. maybe by next year the temptation of trying to be popular will be way too much to resist, and he wont be caring about Pi any more... or maybe he'll be on his way to Caltech by then.

[BackInBlack]

'Gaurav's parents promised him an Xbox 360 video game console if he had reached his goal. His father, Jogesh Rajav, jokingly offered to get him "an Xbox, but no game."'

Classic. (In a bad way.) Never good enough...

[ketelone]

Pi :)

[BackInBlack]

Yeah -- it's like those people who devote decades to figuring out who killed JFK. In the end, who cares?

[jdm]

"Yes, but does he know the names of the American Idol contestants? Isn't that what is really important? /sarc"

That and also the names of all the current cast members on Saturday Night Live.

[php5]

pi is the ratio between a circle's diameter and circumference....here's the first 1000 digits.

3.
1415926535 8979323846 2643383279 5028841971 6939937510 5820974944 5923078164 0628620899 8628034825 3421170679 8214808651 3282306647 0938446095 5058223172 5359408128 4811174502 8410270193 8521105559 6446229489 5493038196 4428810975 6659334461 2847564823 3786783165 2712019091 4564856692 3460348610 4543266482 1339360726 0249141273 7245870066 0631558817 4881520920 9628292540 9171536436 7892590360 0113305305 4882046652 1384146951 9415116094 3305727036 5759591953 0921861173 8193261179 3105118548 0744623799 6274956735 1885752724 8912279381 8301194912 9833673362 4406566430 8602139494 6395224737 1907021798 6094370277 0539217176 2931767523 8467481846 7669405132 0005681271 4526356082 7785771342 7577896091 7363717872 1468440901 2249534301 4654958537 1050792279 6892589235 4201995611 2129021960 8640344181 5981362977 4771309960 5187072113 4999999837 2978049951 0597317328 1609631859 5024459455 3469083026 4252230825 3344685035 2619311881 7101000313 7838752886 5875332083 8142061717 7669147303 5982534904 2875546873 1159562863 8823537875 9375195778 1857780532 1712268066 1300192787 6611195909 2164201989 3809525720 1065485863 2788659361 5338182796 8230301952 0353018529 6899577362 2599413891 2497217752 8347913151

[zook]

That's a lot better than Kate Bush did on her latest CD.

[ketelone]

Well, true...

Sort of like the guiness book of world records... I mean, ok, so you have the worlds longest fingernails, and it took you 15 years to grow them.. but in the end you look wierd, and noone really cares. Plus, picking your nose could be a problem.

[freedomlover]

LOL. There was a guy I knew in high school that could recite 50 or so. But after a while that party trick got old. I lost track of him after college but IIRC he failed several math classes because he couldn't keep track of time or schedules.

[DesertSapper]

Wow. Impressive.

. . . not to rain on his parade . . . but what does this feat/ability do for him? I was told in college to learn it out to 10 places but only remember 3.1415926. Other than using it as a PIN for some login at work, I have never used more than 3.14 again in my life. :-P

I guess the memorization techniques he used will help him later in life but knowing pi this well won't.

[Magnum44]

It sounds like a waste of time and potential talent.

That really depends on what else he has accomplished during that same time. The kid may be the next Einstein.

On the other hand, a society that recites pi needs a social life.