A pair of Japanese and US computer whizzes claim to have calculated 
to five trillion decimal places -- a number which if verified eclipses the previous record set by a French software engineer. (pi) is that non-terminating, non-repeating decimal whose importance was drummed into us at school. It is, of course, the number (an irrational and also a transcendental number at that) that defines the relationship between the circumference and diameter of a circle, and it is named after the first letter of the Greek words for periphery or perimeter.
Despite the lack of any real point in doing so, memorising the digits of has become an almost obsessive pastime among some people.
In October 2006, retired engineer Akira Haraguchi memorised 100,000 digits, beating his own previous record of 83,431 places.
In 2010, retired accountant Peter Goerman tried to memorise the newly-calculated five trillion decimal places, stating, "It's as easy as "
