The attempt
Ten thousand five hundred and thirty-three digits, delivered aloud over 244 minutes, is roughly 43 digits a minute sustained for the length of two feature films. The digits of pi are effectively random, so nothing in the sequence can be worked out from what precedes it: every place has to be recalled or the attempt stops.
Mic's Pi Day survey lists the result with its source, the Pi World Ranking List, rather than as a claim on its own. That is the standard way these figures are quoted, because the discipline has no single governing body and the registers do not agree with one another.
Where it sits on the list
Loomba's total is a national record rather than a global one. Above it on the same list sits Rick de Jong of the Netherlands, who recited 22,612 digits in 5 hours 34 minutes in March 2015 to take the European record from Daniel Tammet.
Higher still are two Indian record holders. Rajveer Meena recited 70,000 digits in 9 hours 7 minutes while blindfolded on 21 March 2015 and is recognised by Guinness World Records. Suresh Kumar Sharma recited 70,030 digits in 17 hours 14 minutes, a figure carried by the Pi World Ranking List and India's Limca Book of Records but not by Guinness.
The registers and their disagreements
The largest reported recitation of all belongs to Akira Haraguchi of Japan, who says he recited 111,700 digits in 16 hours 30 minutes in 2006. Guinness World Records has never formally recognised it, so the biggest number in the discipline sits outside the official record entirely.
This is why every figure on this page is quoted with the body that holds it. A pi record is a measurement plus a rulebook, and the rulebooks differ on witnesses, on breaks, on how errors are handled and on what counts as verification.
What the feat involves
Memorisers generally break the sequence into chunks of a few digits and attach each chunk to something already memorised, a route, a story or a set of images, then rehearse the chain until it can be walked at speed. The mathematics is incidental; the work is entirely in the encoding and the maintenance.
Endurance is the second half of the problem. An attempt lasting four hours demands unbroken concentration in front of observers, with no notes, no prompts and no way to recover a lost position once the thread has gone.
Vingt questions, huit minutes au chronomètre et un centile mesuré face à tous ceux qui l’ont passé. Sans inscription.
Passer le test de QI →What is documented, and what is not
Documented: the digit count, the duration, the month and the register that recorded it, from Mic's 2017 survey and the Pi World Ranking List's standings.
Not documented in these sources: his age or date of birth, which is why this page gives no birth year; his home city; where the recitation took place and who witnessed it; how long he prepared; and whether the Australian record has since changed hands. The ranking list is a live document and this page reflects it as reported in 2017.
| Personne | Pays | Étape | Âge / Donnée |
|---|---|---|---|
| Karan Loomba | Australie | Récitation de 10 533 chiffres de pi | — |
| Rebecca Sharrock | Australie | Mémoire autobiographique supérieure (HSAM) | — |
| Marc Umile | États-Unis | Récitation de 15 314 chiffres de pi | — |
| Krishan Chahal | Inde | Récitation de 43 000 chiffres de pi | — |
| Rick de Jong | Pays-Bas | Récitation de 22 612 chiffres de pi | — |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Recited 10,533 digits of pi in 4 hours 4 minutes in October 2016
- The attempt is recorded by the Pi World Ranking List
- Reported by Mic in its 2017 Pi Day survey of record holders
- The total was an Australian record, not a world record
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- No age, date of birth or home city in these sources
- The venue and witnesses of the attempt are not recorded here
- Whether the Australian record still stands is not documented
Questions people ask about Karan Loomba
How many digits of pi did Karan Loomba recite?
10,533, in 4 hours 4 minutes, in October 2016.
How old is Karan Loomba?
No age or date of birth appears in the sources used here.
Was it a world record?
No. It was recorded by the Pi World Ranking List as the Australian record; the world figures are far higher.
Who holds the pi world record?
Guinness World Records recognises Rajveer Meena for 70,000 digits. The Pi World Ranking List also carries Suresh Kumar Sharma's 70,030.
What about the 111,700-digit claim?
Akira Haraguchi of Japan says he recited 111,700 digits in 2006. Guinness World Records has not formally recognised it.
How do people memorise that many digits?
By chunking the sequence and attaching the chunks to a memorised route, story or set of images, then rehearsing until it can be recalled at speed.
Is Karan Loomba on Wikipedia?
No standalone article is recorded for him in this file.
Where is Karan Loomba now?
The sources used here do not say.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Loomba’s story?
How many digits of pi did Karan Loomba recite?
How long did it take?
Which register recorded the attempt?
Sources
- Pi Day 2017: Meet the record-holders for memorizing digits of pi — Mic, 2017-03-14
- Pi World Ranking List - Pi — Pi World Ranking List
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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