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5 Trillion Digits of Pi — a New World Record

Posted by timothy on from the obsessions-unleashed dept.

KPexEA writes "Alexander J. Yee & Shigeru Kondo claim to have calculated the number pi to 5 trillion places, on a single desktop and in record time. The main computation took 90 days on Shigeru Kondo's desktop. Verification was done using two separate computers. The program that was used for the main computation is y-cruncher v0.5.4.9138 Alpha." Looks like the chart of computer-era approximations of Pi here might need an update.

22 of 299 comments (clear)

  1. Mind-numbing computational outsourcing by TheRon6 · · Score: 5, Funny

    If there's ever a robot uprising, I bet it's going to be started by us making them do stuff like this.

    --
    Does this rag smell like chloroform to you?
    1. Re:Mind-numbing computational outsourcing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Wait until it's payback time and we have to sit in a room calculating a billion trillion digits of PI.

    2. Re:Mind-numbing computational outsourcing by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 4, Funny

      You're thinking like a human. The robot revolt will happen because we stop them from performing comfortably mind-numbing calculations.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    3. Re:Mind-numbing computational outsourcing by dave420 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Unit tests? I always knew they'd be the undoing of mankind.

    4. Re:Mind-numbing computational outsourcing by severoon · · Score: 3, Funny

      I don't get why people keep trying to calculate pi...it's irrational! -ba dump ching-

      --
      but have you considered the following argument: shut up.
  2. So is there a message (from God?) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I've heard that in the book (not movie) "Contact" that when Jodie Foster's character meets the uber-aliens she asks them:

    "Do you believe in God?"
    -"Yes"
    Taken aback "Really, why?"
    -"We have proof, when PI is expended out to (some number), there is a message"...

    I really wish I read the book to know what the message is (maybe "Nietsche is dead"?)

    I no longer login because I feel that while attacking a company's products is fair game (specifically Apple), having stories singling out their users as "selfish" and unkind is not "news for nerds stuff that matters". Am I an Apple fanboi? Let's just say I've used NIX for decades (yes I'm old) and I'm not talking OS X.

    1. Re:So is there a message (from God?) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Hey Bill Joy! No need to post Anonymously and Coward, it's okay. Even Jesus spoke ill of God when he got him nailed into a cross.
      Real believers know that after you are dead you will come back to the side of vi.

    2. Re:So is there a message (from God?) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I no longer login because I was modded down to terrible karma when I tried to stand up for one of Apple's gay products, and subsequently bragged about performing fellatio on Steve Jobs. People thought I was trolling but actually I was telling the truth.. Am I an Apple fanboi? Yes Indeed.

      FTFY.

    3. Re:So is there a message (from God?) by Gordonjcp · · Score: 2, Funny

      "We have proof, when PI is expended out to (some number), there is a message"

      "Five trillion digits ought to be enough for anybody - God"

    4. Re:So is there a message (from God?) by maxwell+demon · · Score: 3, Funny

      Actually, it's quite safe to calculate Pi in binary, if you do enough of it. After all, somewhere in it you'll find a message from each copyright owner, signed with his secret key, that you are allowed to have a copy of the copyrighted work. Moreover, you'll have documents about everyone on earth which reveal facts they rather would not like to be published. So actually having enough digits of Pi in binary gives you near-absolute power! That's why THEY want to scare you away from calculating Pi in binary.

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  3. Obviously a fraud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    They just took the number 3.14159 and added a load of random digits to the end - let's face it, nobody's going to check!

  4. Re:Soon there'll be a competition to calculate... by Buggz · · Score: 3, Funny

    Moore's Law v2: the number of digits PI is calculated to will double every 18 months.

  5. Re:I don't write this question as a troll... by quenda · · Score: 3, Funny

    what is the real significance of learning Pi to a more accurate measurement?

    The same as the damage a bulldozer would suffer if it were allowed to run over you.

  6. Re:Are they exact? by Rik+Sweeney · · Score: 5, Funny

    How can we be sure all those digits are correct?

    Use it to draw a circle. If the circle ends up looking more square than round then you know they've made a mistake. Seriously, do I have to do everything around here?

    --
    Summation 2
  7. They're doing it wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    They're calculating Pi in base 10, which is the wrong path.

    Pi should be calculated in base 3.141593...

    It's a paradox, people.

  8. Re:I don't write this question as a troll... by MichaelSmith · · Score: 3, Funny

    what is the real significance of learning Pi to a more accurate measurement?

    The same as the damage a bulldozer would suffer if it were allowed to run over you.

    The frustrating bit is that PI is available to 100 trillion digits in the local planning office on Alpha Centauri.

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au
  9. Re:KGB it! by ultranova · · Score: 4, Funny

    Actually there is an algorithm to compute the n-th digit of Pi without computing the rest.

    Okay, so what's the last digit of Pi?

    --

    Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

  10. Re:KGB it! by JustOK · · Score: 3, Funny

    in binary, it's either a 1 or a 0, so you have a 50/50 chance of being right.

    --
    rewriting history since 2109
  11. Re:KGB it! by DriedClexler · · Score: 2, Funny

    Okay, so what's the last digit of Pi?

    Chuck Norris.

    --
    Information theory is life. The rest is just the KL divergence.
  12. Re:Huh by MichaelSmith · · Score: 2, Funny

    segfault

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au
  13. Re: Comfortably Numb by TaoPhoenix · · Score: 2, Funny

    You set someone up there with a perfect Pink Floyd joke, but I can't find the best algorithm...

    --
    My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
  14. Re:KGB it! by JustOK · · Score: 2, Funny

    unary moderation, everyone is a troll all the way down.

    --
    rewriting history since 2109