by Alex Coopersmith, opinions editor

The Roar spoke with junior Steven Wang about his skill at solving Rubik’s cubes, playing Tetris, reciting digits of pi and clapping his hands.

I’ve heard that you’re pretty good at solving Rubik’s cubes.

Yes, I am okay at solving Rubik’s Cubes. I average 35 seconds per cube now.

How fast does that compare to the world record?

The world record is 5.55 seconds, so it’s not close. As far as I have seen, I’m either the second or third best in our school. But I’ve only been cubing since June.

How often do you play Tetris? Are you any good at it?

Last year I played it nearly every day. On the Tetris Friends mode “Ultra” I usually play the two-minute game once a day, and I get a daily score that puts me usually in the top 20.

How many people play “Ultra” in Tetris friends?

I wouldn’t know. But my score easily puts me in the .1% of all Tetris players.

What’s the deal with all your hand-clapping?

I don’t know. I saw someone get a world record in hand-clapping, so I decided to try it.

What is the world record?

It is 721 claps in a minute. I can do around 650.

Can you show me?

*vigorous hand-clapping ensues*

I’ve been told you know several digits of Pi. How many do you know?

Currently, 278.

Really?

3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679821480865132823066470938446095505822317253594081284811174502841027019385211055596446229489549303819644288109756659334461284756482337867831652712019091456485669234603486104543266

How did you learn all those digits?

I just started in seventh grade. It took me four years, on and off. I set little goals such as learning 15 new digits by a certain date.

Why did you do this?

It is just a cool thing to do. Also, if you have enough digits of pi, you can pick a random point inside of pi and choose that digit. It’s more random than if you try to come up with a random number. That ‘s just one use of having 278 digits of pi memorized.

Will you put these skills on your resume and/or your college applications?

Maybe. Probably cubing and pi.