How can you build a palace in your mind? We speak with Paul Hearding, the North American Champion for Reciting Pi, about how he used storytelling to memorize 16,106 digits in February 2020. He shares how his process evolved (obey the emerging form!) so that now, as he continues to memorize more, he’s included rhyme. It’s fun episode exploring passion projects and practical applications for story.

After receiving his master's in Mathematics from the University of Delaware and teaching at the college level, Paul Hearding packed up his things and followed a lifelong dream of moving out west. That journey brought him to Telluride, Colorado, where he taught high-school math and science. Paul now runs his own tutoring business, nurturing an appreciation for the art of mathematics in his students while pursuing his own mathematical passions, including the practice of reciting digits of pi from memory. In 2020, Paul recited 16,106 digits of pi, setting the US record.He is actively doing original research in the area of finite fields and is currently researching permutation polynomials, a phenomenon in abstract algebra with applications to the information sciences, particularly cryptology. He plans to submit his dissertation this year and earn his Ph.D. from the University of Delaware.

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