5 Trillion Digits of Pi — a New World Record

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.

Comments

Mind-numbing computational outsourcing

[TheRon6]

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

Re:Mind-numbing computational outsourcing

[DNS-and-BIND]

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

Re:Mind-numbing computational outsourcing

[severoon]

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

So is there a message (from God?)

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:So is there a message (from God?)

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:So is there a message (from God?)

[maxwell demon]

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.

Re:Soon there'll be a competition to calculate...

[Buggz]

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

Re:I don't write this question as a troll...

[quenda]

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.

Re:Are they exact?

[Rik Sweeney]

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?

Re:I don't write this question as a troll...

[MichaelSmith]

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.

Re:KGB it!

[ultranova]

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?

Re:KGB it!

[JustOK]

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