Paul Hearding: 30,448 Digits of Pi, a North American Record

Biography

Twenty-seven hours

The note attached to Hearding's entry is what sets it apart from everything around it: twenty-seven hours and forty-three minutes. No other attempt among the list's leading entries carries a duration remotely like it. Sudhir Dwivedi's 45,000 digits are listed at six hours; Luca Vadacca's 22,801 at seven; Manuel Vergara Vial's 20,000 at two hours and fifty-seven minutes.

That works out at roughly eighteen digits a minute sustained over more than a full day, against rates above a hundred a minute elsewhere on the same table. The list does not say whether the durations were measured on comparable terms, so the figure is reported here as the list states it rather than interpreted as a pace.

The American record it replaced

The Pi World Ranking List marks Hearding's entry as a North American record for 2025. The scale of the jump is visible in the next United States entry on the same table: Marc Umile, with 15,314 digits set on 21 July 2007. Hearding's total is roughly double it.

That gap of eighteen years is the context the headline number needs. The American position on this list had stood still since 2007 while the leading totals, all set elsewhere, climbed past 67,000. A single attempt in 2025 took the United States from twenty-second on the table to ninth.

Where it sits on the list

Ninth place puts Hearding inside a very short group. Above him are Suresh Kumar Sharma of India with 70,030 digits from 2015, Rajveer Meena of India with 70,000 from the same year, Chao Lu of China with 67,890 from 2005, Sudhir Dwivedi of India with 45,000 from 2013, Krishan Chahal of India with 43,000 from 2006, Hiroyuki Goto of Japan with 42,195 from 1995, Hideaki Tomoyori of Japan with 40,000 from 1987 and Rajan Mahadevan of India with 31,811 from 1981.

Immediately below him is Jonas von Essen of Sweden with 24,063 digits from 2020. Hearding's is the newest entry anywhere near the top of the table, and the only one in the leading ten posted in the 2020s.

What is documented — and what is not

The firm facts are the digit count of 30,448, the date of 16 May 2025, the listed duration, the country, the ninth-place ranking and the North American record note. All of them come from the Pi World Ranking List, the specialist register that maintains these standings.

The rest is missing. The list carries a rules page that was not retrieved for this record, so the verification standard applied to the attempt is not described here. It gives no age, birth year, city, occupation or venue, names no officials, and says nothing about how long Hearding prepared or whether he intends to go further.

Why the totals stalled, then moved

The pi list is unusual among competitive records in how rarely it changes at the top. Two of the ten leading entries date from the 1980s and 1990s, and the first three have stood since 2015 at the latest. Nothing about human memory changed in the intervening years; what changed is how many people were prepared to attempt a recitation on this scale.

Hearding's 2025 entry is therefore notable as much for its date as for its length. It is the newest result near the summit of a table whose upper half was effectively frozen for a decade, and it reopened a national position that had not moved since 2007.

Achievement Timeline

Paul Hearding — every milestone on this page, in order.

21 July 2007

Marc Umile sets the previous listed UnMarc Umile sets the previous listed United States total of 15,314 digits (Pi World Ranking List)

16 May 2025

Hearding recites 30,448 digits over 27Hearding recites 30,448 digits over 27 hours and 43 minutes

2025

The attempt is listed as a North AmeriThe attempt is listed as a North American record and enters the all-time top ten at ninth

Since

His entry remains the newest among theHis entry remains the newest among the list's leading results

Historical Comparison

Person	Country	Milestone	Age / Stat
Gaurav Raja	United States	Reciting 10,980 digits of pi at 15	Age 15
Paul Hearding	United States	Reciting 30,448 decimal places of pi	—
Sudhir Dwivedi	India	Reciting 45,000 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

30,448 digits of pi recited on 16 May 2025 (Pi World Ranking List)
Listed duration of 27 hours 43 minutes and a North American Record note for 2025
Ranked ninth all-time, ahead of Jonas von Essen's 24,063 digits

? Unverified, disputed or wrong

The list's verification rules were not retrieved for this record
No age, birth year, city or venue is published in this source
The list does not state whether durations across entries are measured comparably

Questions people ask about Paul Hearding

How many digits of pi did Paul Hearding recite?

30,448, on 16 May 2025, in a session the ranking list records as 27 hours and 43 minutes.

Is that an American record?

The Pi World Ranking List marks the entry as a North American record for 2025. The next United States entry on the list is Marc Umile's 15,314 digits from 2007.

Where does he rank in the world?

Ninth all-time on the list. The leader is Suresh Kumar Sharma of India with 70,030 digits.

Why did it take 27 hours?

The list records the duration but does not explain it, or say whether times across entries were measured on comparable terms. Other leading attempts are listed at between three and seven hours.