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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.

6 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 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!
  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: 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: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
  4. 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.