The recitation
The number is the achievement: 10,980 digits, recited in order, without error, at 15. The Washington Times reported the record on 13 June 2006. The mark he broke had been set in 1979, which means the North American record had stood for twenty-seven years, longer than Raja had been alive.
Pi recitation attempts are run under observation, with a checker following a printed sequence, because the only way to verify a claim is to watch the whole thing. The discipline is memory under sustained pressure: a single transposed digit ends the attempt.
Forty digits, then ten thousand more
The origin is the part teachers repeat. At Salem High School in Salem, Virginia, Linda Gooding set her pupils a challenge to memorise forty digits of pi. Raja did not stop at forty.
That is the whole mechanism of the story: a small, ordinary classroom exercise met a pupil willing to keep going for months after everyone else had finished. Nothing in the reporting describes a special programme, a coach or a training regime.
Pi memorisation as a sport
Reciting pi is one of the few memory disciplines with a permanent public audience, renewed every year on 14 March, which is why Mic returned to the subject in 2017 with a round-up of record holders that included Raja. The world records in the field run into tens of thousands of digits, set mostly in Asia, and the American figures sit well below them.
That context matters for reading the record fairly. Raja's 10,980 digits broke a continental record, not a world record, and the reporting is precise about the distinction. It is also a record with no governing body and no season: attempts happen where a school, a university or a local newspaper arranges for someone to check the digits, which is why the American mark had gone unchallenged for twenty-seven years before a teenager in Virginia took it.
Where Gaurav Raja is now
The sources gathered here cover 2006 and a mention in 2017. Neither records a career, a university, or what he does now.
The name is common, and search results mix several people. Nothing on this page should be taken as describing anyone other than the Salem High School pupil who set the record in June 2006.
What is documented and what is not
Documented: 10,980 digits of pi recited at 15 in June 2006; a North American record previously set in 1979; his school, Salem High School in Salem, Virginia; and the teacher, Linda Gooding, whose forty-digit challenge started it.
Not documented here: his date of birth, how long the recitation took, the method he used to memorise, whether the record has since been broken, and anything about his life after 2006. The birth year on this page is derived from his reported age at the time.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gaurav Raja | United States | Reciting 10,980 digits of pi at 15 | Age 15 |
| Sudhir Dwivedi | India | Reciting 45,000 decimal places of pi | — |
| Paul Hearding | United States | Reciting 30,448 decimal places of pi | — |
| Luca Vadacca | Italy | Reciting 22,801 decimal places of pi | — |
| Manuel Vergara Vial | Chile | Reciting 20,000 decimal places of pi | — |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Recited 10,980 digits of pi at 15 in June 2006
- Broke a North American record that had stood since 1979
- Pupil at Salem High School, Salem, Virginia
- The attempt began with teacher Linda Gooding's 40-digit classroom challenge
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- Date of birth is not published; the birth year here is derived from his reported age
- The duration of the recitation and the memorisation method are not recorded
- Nothing about his life after 2006 appears in these sources
Questions people ask about Gaurav Raja
How many digits of pi did Gaurav Raja recite?
10,980, recited at the age of 15 in June 2006.
How old is Gaurav Raja?
He was reported as 15 in June 2006, which puts his birth year at about 1991. No date of birth appears in these sources.
What record did he break?
The North American pi memorisation record, which had been set in 1979.
How did he start?
With a classroom challenge from his teacher, Linda Gooding, to memorise forty digits.
Did he hold the world record?
No. The record he broke was a North American one; world records in pi recitation run to far higher numbers.
Where is Gaurav Raja now?
Nothing about his life after 2006 is documented in the sources used here, beyond a 2017 mention in a Pi Day round-up.
Is Gaurav Raja on Wikipedia?
No Wikipedia article is recorded for him. The Washington Times report is the primary reference.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Gaurav’s story?
How many digits of pi did Gaurav Raja recite?
What started him off?
Which record did he break?
Sources
- Gaurav Raja breaks North American pi memorization record — The Washington Times, 2006-06-13
- Pi Day 2017: Meet the record-holders for memorizing digits of pi — Mic, 2017-03-14
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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