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New York, 9:27 AM
Tue Dec 1
66 posts in the last 24 hours

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  • posts about #pi more →

    Pi Calculation Record Destroyed: 2.5 Trillion Decimals

    The Pi-Mobile Races at Imaginary Number Speeds

    3/14: The Nerdiest Date of the Year

    Happy Pi Day Everyone!

    Deeda's Pi Phone Fools Nobody
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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of paulrules paulrules
    08/18/09

    In reply to Pi Calculation Record Destroyed: 2.5 Trillion Decimals
    Pie cookies? WHAT MADNESS IS THIS?
     Reply
    DeusExMach believes you have his stapler promoted this comment paulrules was starred paulrules was unstarred
    Image of DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star. DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star.
    08/18/09

    @paulrules: Madness? THIS! IS! CAKE TOWN!
     Reply
    DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star. was starred DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star. was unstarred
    Image of Darklighter Darklighter
    08/18/09

    In reply to Pi Calculation Record Destroyed: 2.5 Trillion Decimals
    So has it started drawing circles yet?
     Reply
    Darklighter was starred Darklighter was unstarred
    Image of Damn the Fanboys Damn the Fanboys
    08/18/09

    In reply to Pi Calculation Record Destroyed: 2.5 Trillion Decimals
    so at what point do they just start bullshitting the digits? Who cares?!
     Reply
    DeusExMach believes you have his stapler promoted this comment Damn the Fanboys was starred Damn the Fanboys was unstarred
    Image of DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star. DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star.
    08/18/09

    @Damn the Fanboys: I always do after 3.14159
     Reply
    DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star. was starred DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star. was unstarred
    Image of TuxBobble TuxBobble
    08/18/09

    In reply to Pi Calculation Record Destroyed: 2.5 Trillion Decimals
    Come now, no one rounds to 3! It's always either 3.14 or 3.141592.

    I've NEVER heard if anyone rounding to anything other than those two "versions" of pi, personally. Obviously for scientific purposes, you might want more digits. But dear god, 2.5 trillion "sig figs"? That's ridiculous. I can't imagine anything needing to be precise to 2.5 trillion digits...
     Reply
    TuxBobble was starred TuxBobble was unstarred
    Image of bucklefilledbird bucklefilledbird
    08/18/09

    @TuxBobble: it's a question of scale. Most people choose not to attempt to comprehend what massively complex mathematical equations may benefit from such information.

    on the other hand, the mere thought that pi's decimal may repeat somewhere... in the seemingly infinite chaos of random numerals would be, to a mathematician and scientist, akin to irrefutably proving the existence of God.
     Reply
    DeusExMach believes you have his stapler promoted this comment bucklefilledbird was starred bucklefilledbird was unstarred
    Image of DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star. DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star.
    08/18/09

    @bucklefilledbird: "Some say the world will end in fire;
    Some say in ice.
    From what I've tasted of desire
    I hold with those who favor fire.
    But if it had to perish twice,
    I think I know enough of hate
    To know that for destruction ice
    Is also great
    And would suffice." -Robert Frost

    "If the Universe was, indeed, created by an intelligent being, then it is the fever-dream of a statistician." -Me.
     Reply
    DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star. was starred DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star. was unstarred
    Image of UnderLoK UnderLoK
    08/18/09

    In reply to Pi Calculation Record Destroyed: 2.5 Trillion Decimals
    Was the old record still from Distributed.net? I don't see it in the wiki history, but I remember back in the day they ran a side project for it and a guy in Plymouth MI hit it. It was around 98 maybe?

    Hell getting old, my brain is overflowing :(
     Reply
    UnderLoK was starred UnderLoK was unstarred
    Image of DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star. DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star.
    08/18/09

    @UnderLoK: o noes! buffer overfloes!
     Reply
    DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star. was starred DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star. was unstarred
    Image of AstroWolf AstroWolf
    08/18/09

    In reply to Pi Calculation Record Destroyed: 2.5 Trillion Decimals
    someone explain to me without being a douche, why the hell they cant just keep projecting the equation forever and forever... is it possible to figure out some code that keeps going with the string of numbers? making anything like this kinda blaze? if it is a infinite string of numbers, how come we cant just have it constantly evolving and never ending?

    is this naive of me to ask?
     Reply
    VenomIreland promoted this comment AstroWolf was starred AstroWolf was unstarred
    Image of phunnyballs phunnyballs
    08/18/09

    @AstroWolf: because, those numbers take up space, and as it stands they take up a whopping 25 terabytes. They could have easily kept going and going and going but it really wouldnt ahve been worth it in terms of system resource use. I would imagine they would use something much more speedy than a harddrive because of I/O needs which would have cost mucho $$$$

    I mean sure we could do it, but im sure this computer is going on to do much more important things where such precision in pi isnt needed.
     Reply
    phunnyballs was starred phunnyballs was unstarred
    Image of DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star. DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star.
    08/18/09

    @AstroWolf: I would say, that as computers get faster and faster, it actually becomes more cost effective to start over with a new supercomputer than to keep it going on an old system. Imagine if we were still using punch-cards to calculate pi. Now imagine how much faster an x86 processor can do it.

    Then imagine several x86's linked together.

    Then several multi-core processors.

    Then a supercomputer with hundreds of cores

    then thousands

    then tens of thousands.

    It's like the pink dragon. You keep chasing it. But you never CATCH the dragon!
     Reply
    DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star. was starred DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star. was unstarred
    Image of DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star. DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star.
    08/18/09


    @DeusExMach believes you have his stapler:
     Reply
    DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star. was starred DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star. was unstarred
    Image of LindsayJoy's MBP is into S+M LindsayJoy's MBP is into S+M
    08/18/09

    @DeusExMach believes you have his stapler:

    Exactly what I was thinking. Now they need Rehab Hero!
     Reply
    LindsayJoy's MBP is into S+M was starred LindsayJoy's MBP is into S+M was unstarred
    Image of strider_mt2k strider_mt2k
    08/18/09

    In reply to Pi Calculation Record Destroyed: 2.5 Trillion Decimals
    That computer and I are not affiliated, but I WOULD send it a Christmas card if it would just stop screening my calls!
     Reply
    strider_mt2k was starred strider_mt2k was unstarred
    Image of FriarNurgle FriarNurgle
    08/18/09

    In reply to Pi Calculation Record Destroyed: 2.5 Trillion Decimals
    Dorks
     Reply
    Log1c, M.Sc. promoted this comment FriarNurgle was starred FriarNurgle was unstarred
    Image of Log1c Log1c
    08/18/09


    @FriarNurgle: NERDS!
     Reply
    Log1c was starred Log1c was unstarred
    Image of Curves Curves
    08/18/09

    In reply to Pi Calculation Record Destroyed: 2.5 Trillion Decimals
    The only thing I have ever used Pi for was when a clue in a crossword said 3.14 name.
     Reply
    Curves was starred Curves was unstarred
    Image of OldSchoolGadgetLover OldSchoolGadgetLover
    08/18/09

    @Curves: Did you know there's a person in China (Chao Lu) who was able to recite Pi up to 67,890 positions? For a non repeating never ending number, that's pretty impressive.
     Reply
    Heliophage promoted this comment Edited by OldSchoolGadgetLover at 08/18/09 10:42 AM OldSchoolGadgetLover was starred OldSchoolGadgetLover was unstarred
    Image of Heliophage Heliophage
    08/18/09

    @OldSchoolGadgetLover:

    What's sad is that if I were even trying to make up a 67,890 digit long sequence of numbers, I would probably start repeating a pattern. :/
     Reply
    Heliophage was starred Heliophage was unstarred
    Image of MacBandit MacBandit
    08/18/09

    @Curves:

    I use it fairly frequently. For some reason I'm always needing to know the diameter or in the opposite situation the circumference of something.
     Reply
    Curves promoted this comment MacBandit was starred MacBandit was unstarred
    Image of Curves Curves
    08/18/09

    @MacBandit: I totaly admit to copping out and asking an engineer when I need to know that sort of thing (which I rarely need to know). I have a designated "go to" math guy for anything that doesnt have a $ in front of it. I can do ANYTHING with a $ on it. I suitably reward my math (and hardware) guys with brownies or some such treat.
     Reply
    Curves was starred Curves was unstarred
    Image of stre stre
    08/18/09

    @Curves: wow, i can't think of a time when the answer to a crossword puzzle clue was only 2 letters long. always thought that was kind of a no-no when it came to crosswords.
     Reply
    Curves promoted this comment stre was starred stre was unstarred
    Image of Curves Curves
    08/18/09

    @stre: This was on a "newsletter" written by an accident prone receptionist from my doctors office. She always had some theme to the puzzles and that one was about pie.

    (pumpkins the best)
     Reply
    Curves was starred Curves was unstarred
    Image of PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: PurpleMonkeyDishwasher:
    08/18/09

    In reply to Pi Calculation Record Destroyed: 2.5 Trillion Decimals

    Yeah you only need to know a couple decimal places for most calculations.
     Reply
    danger the pirate (now with google voice!) promoted this comment PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: was starred PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: was unstarred
    Image of danger the pirate danger the pirate
    08/18/09

    @Purple Monkey Dishwasher: im in the dick range if my brain is working well that day.
     Reply
    danger the pirate was starred danger the pirate was unstarred
    Image of Nick Nick
    08/18/09

    @danger the pirate (now with google voice!): so being gay is a choice?
     Reply
    Nick was starred Nick was unstarred
    Image of gallahad gallahad
    08/18/09

    @Purple Monkey Dishwasher: And wiki says that you only need 39 places for a circle the size of the observable universe to the precision of a hydrogen atom
     Reply
    Margatron promoted this comment gallahad was starred gallahad was unstarred
    Image of RJackson RJackson
    08/18/09

    In reply to Pi Calculation Record Destroyed: 2.5 Trillion Decimals
    If they got that in 3 days, why not leave it for that 600hrs and get a much bigger result?
     Reply
    Hello Mister Walrus promoted this comment RJackson was starred RJackson was unstarred
    Image of PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: PurpleMonkeyDishwasher:
    08/18/09

    @RJackson: They should leave it running for 3.14159 days.
     Reply
    Scotland promoted this comment PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: was starred PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: was unstarred
    Image of Hello Mister Walrus Hello Mister Walrus
    08/18/09

    @RJackson: The number itself has no practical use. They just wanted to see how many decimal places they could get with their computer within that time span.
     Reply
    Hello Mister Walrus was starred Hello Mister Walrus was unstarred
    Image of Spilt_Milk Spilt_Milk
    08/18/09

    In reply to Pi Calculation Record Destroyed: 2.5 Trillion Decimals
    What happens if they find that pi ends?
     Reply
    Heliophage promoted this comment Spilt_Milk was starred Spilt_Milk was unstarred
    Image of Heliophage Heliophage
    08/18/09

    @Spilt_Milk:

    Then they know their algorithm was wrong, and they wasted all that time and money. Which would be hilarious.
     Reply
    Heliophage was starred Heliophage was unstarred
    Image of I_have_something_to_say I_have_something_to_say
    08/18/09

    @Spilt_Milk:

    It's infinite and non-repeating.
     Reply
    I_have_something_to_say was starred I_have_something_to_say was unstarred
    Image of MacBandit MacBandit
    08/18/09

    @I_have_something_to_say:

    How do you know? Are you a god?
     Reply
    Darklighter promoted this comment MacBandit was starred MacBandit was unstarred
    Image of Darklighter Darklighter
    08/18/09

    @MacBandit: It was proven a couple hundred years ago: [en.wikipedia.org]
     Reply
    Darklighter was starred Darklighter was unstarred
    Image of MacBandit MacBandit
    08/18/09

    @Darklighter: They've proven it mathematically but we live in a universe with definite boundaries nothing is infinite.

    Oh, and by the way the answer is always. Yes, yes I am a god. ;-)
     Reply
    Edited by MacBandit at 08/18/09 1:59 PM MacBandit was starred MacBandit was unstarred
    Image of zenpoet zenpoet
    08/18/09

    In reply to Pi Calculation Record Destroyed: 2.5 Trillion Decimals
    Oh yeah? I just beat their record by 1. The next decimal place is "8."

    *hey, i can have a world record with a 1 in 10 chance of being correct.*
     Reply
    zenpoet was starred zenpoet was unstarred
    Image of met2art met2art
    08/18/09

    @zenpoet: Did you show your work? My note to your parents is going to say, he's a bright boy, but he doesnt apply himself.
     Reply
    met2art was starred met2art was unstarred
    Image of PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: PurpleMonkeyDishwasher:
    08/18/09


    @met2art: Showing work is overrated.
     Reply
    Scotland promoted this comment PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: was starred PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: was unstarred
    Image of elchimpo elchimpo
    04/22/09

    In reply to The Pi-Mobile Races at Imaginary Number Speeds
    It ironic because mazda 3 uses a regular 4 banger, the pi symbol would be a lot more appropriate on a mazda rx series which use a rotary engine which uses a round (slightly oval) combustion chamber and a triangular rotor.
     Reply
    elchimpo was starred elchimpo was unstarred
    Image of IcemanD IcemanD
    04/22/09

    @elchimpo: That's not irony (sorry, pet peeve of mine)
     Reply
    IcemanD was starred IcemanD was unstarred
    Image of Lite: hates Illinois Nazis Lite: hates Illinois Nazis
    04/22/09

    @IcemanD: Some of the older rotary blocks were iron. What do you mean it's not irony?
     Reply
    Lite: hates Illinois Nazis was starred Lite: hates Illinois Nazis was unstarred
    Image of EBone EBone
    04/22/09

    In reply to The Pi-Mobile Races at Imaginary Number Speeds
    The only numbers of any real importance in cars is 88 MPH and 1.21 gigawatts.
     Reply
    EBone was starred EBone was unstarred
    Image of GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
    04/22/09

    @EBone: Wouldn't the numbers on the time settings matter a little more?
     Reply
    GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid was starred GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid was unstarred
    Image of EBone EBone
    04/22/09

    @When'sUranusDay?_GitEmSteveDave: Chicken or the egg. Time and date settings mean nothing without power for the flux capacitor.
     Reply
    EBone was starred EBone was unstarred
    Image of GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
    04/22/09

    @EBone: I can just hook it up to the clock tower in town for the power. You need the settings to tell if you're going back to the future or forward to the past.
     Reply
    GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid was starred GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid was unstarred
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