ROANOKE, Va. - The third time was the charm for 15-year-old Gaurav Raja, who succeeded in setting the North American record for reciting digits of pi.

Gaurav on Monday recited 10,980 digits, breaking the North American and U.S. record of 10,625, which had stood for 27 years. During an after-school session, he recited about two numbers per second for one hour, 14 minutes and 28 seconds.

The achievement ranks him ninth in the world. The world record is 42,195.

This was the Salem High School junior's third attempt this year to break the record, and he said he couldn't really explain his feat.

"I know what the numbers are, but it's not like I can see them," he said. "I just know what they are."

The impetus for his attempt came from his math and computer science teacher, Linda Gooding. She asked her students to memorize about 40 digits of pi, an infinite number representing the circumference of a circle divided by its diameter.
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Information from: The Roanoke Times, http://www.roanoketimes.com

Now I know where the saying "get a life" comes from.

Imagine how much life ticks away practicing! And how boring it must be checking the result!