Man Recites First 4,000 Digits Of Pi, But Doesn't Get Record

SYDNEY, Australia -- For Chris Lyons, reciting a 4,400 digit number was as easy as Pi.

Lyons, 36, recited the first 4,400 digits of Pi -- a mathematical value that has an infinite number of decimal places -- without a single error at the 2006 Mindsports Australia Festival, organizer David Cordover said Tuesday.

Cordover said Lyons, a memory coach from Melbourne, took 2 1/2 hours to complete the feat.

Lyons said he spent just one week memorizing the digits before reciting them for judges at the festival Monday.

"With the right techniques and a bit of practice you can remember whatever you want," he said.

His accomplishment is far from a record.

In July, a Japanese psychiatric counselor recited Pi to 83,431 decimal places from memory, breaking his own personal best of 54,000 digits and setting an unofficial world record, according to media reports.