CORRECTION APPENDED

One junior correctly recited 866 digits of the number pi and six competitors stuffed fruit pie into their mouths at a Harvard Mathematics Department celebration of Pi Day yesterday.

The date, March 14, is regarded as a representation of the first three digits of pi, the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.

This year was the sixth annual celebration at Harvard of the math-themed day.

The festivities began on the fourth floor of the Science Center in the Mathematics Department with a pi-digit recitation contest.

Applied mathematics concentrator Serena J. Rezny ’07 was the only entrant in the competition this year.

However, Rezny’s memorization and correct recitation of the first 866 digits of pi surpassed her own record of 464 digits at the University’s Pi Day last year, according to master of ceremonies Noam D. Elkies, a professor in the department of mathematics. [SEE CORRECTION BELOW]

The world record for number of pi digits memorized is 83,431, set last summer by a Japanese man, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Rezny said she has been memorizing digits of pi for four years.

“Initially, my dad knew the first 20 or so digits, and I thought it’d be a cool thing to learn,” Rezny said. “Also, in high school, some of my friends memorized digits of pi.”

But onlookers wondered how exactly one does memorize 866 digits of pi.

“I memorize mostly in blocks of five,” said Rezny, who added that after that it is “mostly practice.” Rezny said she would eat pie afterwards to celebrate. She will be able to upgrade her dessert with the Finale gift certificate she won.

Following Rezny’s record-breaking recitation, Elkies performed part of a musical composition he wrote based on pi, with each note corresponding to a numerical digit.

At 3:14 p.m., six contestants began a pie-eating contest. The department had purchased 22 pies of varying flavors including cherry, apple, blueberry, pecan, and “lemon krunch.” Contestants had exactly three minutes and 14 seconds to eat as much pie as they could.

“Five, four, pi, three, two, one,” Elkies counted down as the contestants shoved the last mouthful of pie into their mouths, lips smeared with the sticky filling.

“I feel so dirty,” said Dustin T. Clausen ’08, wiping blueberry filling from his face. “Anyone want a kiss?”

The winner of the pie-eating contest was Math X instructor and Eliot House non-resident tutor Jonathan M. Bloom ’04, who ate one pound, eight ounces from two pies.

The first-time Pi Day participant dedicated his win to Eliot House because he gets five meals a week at their dining hall, and he said this has helped him become skilled at consuming large amounts of food in one sitting.

He also said pie is one of his favorite desserts and that he lives above a pie store.

“I hope this victory will inspire my students to see what glories can be had through the studies of mathematics,” said Bloom, who said his favorite flavor of pie was pecan.

The Pi Day event abounded with pi and math jokes. At one point Elkies noticed an event attendee taking photographs with a panoramic camera.

“Oh, a 360 degree camera,” Elkies said.

“A ‘two pi’ camera,” the cameraman responded, alluding to another mathematical property of pi—one pi equals 180 degrees.

The event concluded as dozens of attendees enjoyed the uneaten pie left over at the end of the eating contest. Event-goers said they left yesterday with new appreciation for pie and pi.

“I think pi is an amazing number, and I’m so glad we have a day devoted to it,” said Katerina Visnjic ’05 as she watched people enjoying the last slices of the 22 pies.

CORRECTION: The March 15, 2006, story “Fistfuls of Pie for Pi Enthusiasts on 3/14” incorrectly stated that in 2005, Serena J. Rezny ’07 recited 464 digits of pi in a Harvard competition. In fact, Rezny recited 646 digits.