Gaurav Raja can't really explain how he memorized and recited 10,980 digits of pi.

"I just can do it," Gaurav said Monday after breaking the North American and U.S. record, which stood at 10,625 for 27 years. "I don't think it's amazing, but it's like, yeah, I can do it!"

The achievement ranks Gaurav ninth in the world. The world record is 42,195.

It was the Salem High School junior's third attempt to break the record.

Gaurav, 15, has worked for the title since 2004.

The initial challenge came from his math and computer science teacher, Linda Gooding, who asked her students to memorize about 40 digits of pi, an infinite number representing the circumference of a circle divided by its diameter.

Gaurav recited about 250.

He soon realized that the numbers came to him easily and kept practicing for the title.

"I am so glad he did it," Gooding said. "He's worked so hard, and he finally got it."

Gaurav's family thinks his accomplishment is mind-boggling.

"I just don't know how he can do it," said his father, Jogesh Raja, who videotaped each attempt.

When Gaurav was in kindergarten, his teacher told his parents that he was gifted in math, his father said.

"We didn't know at the time what 'gifted in math' meant, but we do now," he said.

Gaurav used a computer program he created to help him memorize the numbers. He would recite the numbers while typing them, and the program would check the numbers.

As for keeping the 10,980 numbers in order, Gaurav said they just flow out of him.

"I know what the numbers are, but it's not like I can see them, I just know what they are," he said.

His attempts have drawn attention from Roanoke-area media and from the "Today" show in New York.

During an after-school session Monday, he recited about two numbers per second for one hour, 14 minutes and 28 seconds.

His ranking will appear on the Pi World Ranking List.

His next task? Memorizing every Nobel Prize winner.

"I guess those are a bit more useful," he said.