Police chief inspector Susanne Hippauf can remember a sequence of numbers with more than 15,000 digits - and wants to break the German record this year.
It's about memorizing the decimal places of the circle number Pi. With a series of 11,104 digits, the forty-year-old from Frankfurt had already set the German record once before, but a competitor then increased it to more than 15,000.
Hippauf is now aiming for a mark beyond 15,600 decimal places, as she told the German Press Agency on the occasion of Pi Day next Monday.
This is celebrated annually on March 14 in honor of the number beginning with 3.14.
Traditionally, competitions in Pi memorization also take place on that date – but all German championships have been canceled since the beginning of the corona pandemic.
"It's fun to train the memory"
Susanne Hippauf plans to set her own record.
This is possible under certain conditions, such as independent witnesses and video recording.
An exact date for the experiment has not yet been set.
The policewoman is currently preparing for a tournament in Rome that will take place in April.
This involves other disciplines such as memorizing playing cards.
She really enjoys training her memory, said the forty-year-old: "It's fascinating how you can improve your performance with training."
Hippauf is ranked number 23 in the world and is the world's best woman in pi memorization.
She links numbers to people - including former Chancellor Angela Merkel and ex-US President Donald Trump - and imagines them in certain places.
By linking them to a journey, she can remember the long sequence of digits.
A man from India holds the world record with more than 70,000 decimal places.