Frankfurt police officer Susanne Hippauf set a German record last year with exactly 15,637 decimal places of the number pi. She recited the huge series of numbers from memory at a pi competition in Emden, Lower Saxony. The 42-year-old wants to defend her title this weekend. She has been training intensively since January. She prepared for 18,000 decimal places of the district number, says Hippauf. During the competition she will try to recite them without errors in front of witnesses. This will take up to three and a half hours.
The so-called Pi memorization is a memory performance that can be achieved using various methods. Hippauf mentally connects the numbers with places and people and follows an imaginary route when reciting them. This takes her to beautiful places all over the world, because traveling is another hobby of the police chief inspector.
She achieved her first German record in 2018. “I read a book about memory techniques and was able to remember a lot relatively quickly, I really enjoyed it,” says the 42-year-old. It is amazing what the brain is capable of when challenged. With a view to the upcoming competition, she is motivated to “go a little further”.
According to the organizers, several competitors want to compete this weekend. The event takes place every year in Emden around World Pi Day, March 14th. According to the American date notation, this forms the circle number Pi with the first two decimal places: 3-14.
