Pi record squared by Guinness
Reporter: Richard Hooton
Date published: 26 July 2011
RECORD breakers . . . acting head teacher Fiona Jack and maths co-ordinator Benjamin Atkins with Year-9 pupils who took part in the record attempt
PUPILS at North Chadderton School are record breakers — thanks to a slice of Pi.
The Chronicle revealed in March how a total of 314 students — the first three digits of Pi, the ratio of a circle’s diameter to circumference — attempted to break the record for the world’s largest maths lesson.
Guinness World Records has now confirmed the school was successful and has presented it with a certificate to honour the achievement. The previous world record stood at 277 and was set by Saisin Cram School in Nagano, Japan.
Maths co-ordinator Ben Atkins, who took the lesson, said: “We are all over-the-moon. The letter we got from Guinness World Records welcomed us to a very select club of World Records holders — a club which now includes 314 North Chadderton School pupils.
“We had a lot of fun organising the event — but waiting to hear from Guinness has been nail-biting. I thought they had forgotten about us at one point as the weeks kept going by.
“But it is fantastic news to end the school year with. A lot of people have had a laugh — saying that our class sizes must be really bad here teaching pupils in such large classes but it was well worth giving it a go to get in that famous record book and I’m so grateful to everyone who has supported us.”
The class started at 1.59pm, the next three digits of the mathematical formula which stays constant despite the circle’s size, on March 14, which is known as world Pi day because the date is written 3/14 in America.
And it ran for 31 minutes and 41 seconds, the first four digits of Pi.
The Mayor and Mayoress of Oldham, Councillor David Jones and Jean Jones, officiated at the North Chadderton attempt, while there were also timekeepers from Royton Air Cadets and Oldham Athletic.
