pi, pi, mister japanese guy

October 5, 2006 at 1:49 pm | Posted in mathematics | Leave a comment

Just when we thought we’d heard it all.

This entry will appeal most to all you wizard mathematician alike. The topic is “pi”, and the question is “why?”

Pi is the indefinite number which has no repeating pattern or sequence. We all probably know it as 3.14. (At least that’s what Mr. Azzopardi and Ms. Watts told me in High School.) Wikipedia defines it as a mathematical constant with a value of approximately 3.14159. An irrational, real number which relates to the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.

Some 60 year old business consultant brainiac from Japan, with fly-mad memory skillz, one Akira Haraguchi, took 16 hours from his life to recite, from memory, this very value to… 100,000 digits. Yes. 100,000 digits y’all. (Look above at our “3.14” – that would be three digits. Look at Wikipedia’s definition. That would be six digits.) The man broke his own record of 83,431. Apparently he could have gone on. He took 10 minute breaks every one or two hours during his performance, not ever having to restart because of a screw-up. Twenty-nine of his fellow employees watched and took tallies, witnessing this GWR act.

“I didn’t feel anything particularly sensational,” Haraguchi said. “I just poured out what was in my mind, but I am happy about the achievement of (reciting) 100,000 digits,” adding to this that he has no plans on attempting to set another record.