Circle number
Policewoman sets German record in Pi competition
The Greek letter Pi in the shape of a cookie will be shown at the 7th Emden Pi Competition. The aim of the two-day competition is to list as many decimal places of the circle number Pi as possible. photo
© Lars Penning/dpa
How do you remember an infinite number? At the seventh Pi competition in Emden, the participants competed by reciting the circle number. A new record was set.
The competition took place in Emden for the seventh time. According to the organizers, 42 participants tried this year. The rules are very simple: the participants count as many decimal places of the number pi as they can from their memory without any help. An error must be corrected immediately. The time between counting the next number cannot exceed one minute.
This year’s winner, Hippauf, uses the so-called loci technique for learning. Numbers are linked to places and people. She always includes prominent people: Kai Pflaume at the sunset on Table Mountain in South Africa or ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel’s husband, Joachim Sauer, on the island of Lanzarote. Loci is a Latin word meaning places. “I had read a book about memory techniques and was able to remember a lot relatively quickly, which I really enjoyed,” said Hippauf in the run-up to the competition.
The competition was held as part of International Pi Day, celebrated by math lovers worldwide on March 14. According to the American spelling, the date is 3-14 and describes the first digits of Pi. The current international record holder comes from India and has managed to memorize the circle number to more than 70,000 digits.
Emden Pi Competition