Doug Brown from St John’s College spent his high school career working towards this amazing day; he recited 3004 digits of Pi, breaking the African record.
Johannesburg, South Africa (15 March 2021) – Every year, on March 14th, the world celebrates Pi Day to recognise the mathematical constant, Pi. It defines as the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, and the value for Pi is 3.14.
Pi, however, has thousands of decimal points beyond 3.14. Computers have calculated that there are more than 22 trillion digits. There are thousands of people around the world that have attempted to commit the number to memory. It is a challenge that many people struggle with, and few succeed at.
One of the latest people to take on this challenge is South African Doug Brown.
Doug Brown, a grade 12 student at St John’s College, successfully recited 3004 digits of Pi from memory on #PiDay. The endeavour took about 45 minutes of deep concentration, not only breaking the South African record of 1500 digits but also the African record of 2086 digits.
Since grade 8, Doug has steadily added about 600 digits to his list each year. Four adjudicators were in attendance, and the recitation was recorded. His achievement will be submitted for official recognition, and he will be added to the list of people who have been able to list the digits correctly.
Doug will most-likely earn his place on the list at around the ± 70 mark. James Smith from Australia is ranked 72nd for reciting 3001 digits from memory in 2014. There are over 3000 people on the list at the moment.
Congratulations on your achievement Doug, we cannot wait to see your name amongst the list of great mathematicians in the world.
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