Australian Man Recites 4,400 Digit Number

SYDNEY, Australia – For Australian Chris Lyons, reciting a 4,400 digit number was as easy as pi. Lyons, 36, recited the first 4,400 digits of pi – a mathematical value that has an infinite number of decimal places – without a single error at the 2006 Mindsports Australia Festival on Monday, organizer David Cordover said Tuesday.

The memory coach from the southern city of Melbourne took 2 1/2 hours to complete the feat, Cordover said.

Lyons said he spent just one week memorizing the digits before reciting them for judges at the festival.

“With the right techniques and a bit of practice you can remember what ever you want,” Lyons said.

Lyon’s feat is far from the record, however.

In July, a Japanese psychiatric counselor recited pi to 83,431 decimal places from memory, breaking his own personal best of 54,000 digits and setting an unofficial world record, media reports said.