Skip to main content
CNN.com
Search
Home Asia Europe U.S. World Business Tech Science Entertainment Sport Travel Weather Specials Video I-Reports
WORLD header

The day in numbers: 3.141...

Adjust font size:
Decrease fontDecrease font
Enlarge fontEnlarge font

3.142: Pi, a physical constant, expressed in its simplest form, used to define the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. It's famous for having an infinite number of decimal places.

100,000: Decimal places of pi recited from memory by Akira Haraguchi, a 60-year-old Japanese business consultant on Tuesday.

16: The number of hours it took him to correctly recall all 100,000 decimal places. Want to know what they are? Click hereexternal link.

10: The number of minutes he took for a break every one to two hours during his recital at a public hall in Kisarazu, Japan. Rice balls, not pies, kept his energy levels up.

31: Education officials and conference hall staff who took turns to monitor Mr Haraguchi during his record attempt.

42,195: The Guinness Book of Records' current entry for a recital from memory of pi's decimal places by Hiroyuki Goto, also from Japan.

83,431: Mr Haraguchi's previous best recital of pi's decimal places made in 1995, although it was not confirmed by the Guinness Book of Records.

3/14: The date of mathematical genius Albert Einstein's birthday.

137: Decimal places of pi sung, incorrectly, by Kate Bush on "Pi" from her 2005 album, "Aerial".

1897: The year in which crank mathematician Edwin J. Godwin persuaded the lower house of the Indiana State legislature to approve a bill recognising pi as 3.2. The bill was thrown out by the upper house before it became law and Godwin laughed out of the chamber.


story.pi.jpg

The mathematical symbol for pi, usually found lurking at the bottom of your calculator.

Advertisement
CNN U.S.
CNN TV How To Get CNN Partner Hotels Contact Us Ad Info About Us Preferences
Search
© 2007 Cable News Network.
A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us. Site Map.
SERVICES » E-mail RSSRSS Feed PodcastsRadio News Icon CNN Mobile CNN Pipeline
Offsite Icon External sites open in new window; not endorsed by CNN.com
Pipeline Icon Pay service with live and archived video. Learn more