Nicholas Sze of Yahoo Finds Two-Quadrillionth Digit of Pi 299
gregg writes "A researcher has calculated the 2,000,000,000,000,000th digit of pi — and a few digits either side of it. Nicholas Sze, of technology firm Yahoo, determined that the digit — when expressed in binary — is 0."
Oh yeah? (Score:5, Funny)
Well, the 243,000,500,000,000,000,002th digit of pi is "4".
Go on, prove me wrong.
You fail math forever (Score:5, Funny)
*facepalm* So that's 9 in decimal, right?
If zero equals nothing then... (Score:4, Funny)
Chicks'll find this sooooo hot (Score:1, Funny)
He'll definitely get some action for sure!
Put to good use (Score:5, Funny)
Good to know they're putting those idle datacenters to good use. It's not like Yahoo has any real users anymore to generate load.
Re:So, what is the digit in decimal? (Score:2, Funny)
Last Digit? (Score:5, Funny)
"Interestingly, by some algebraic manipulations, (our) formula can compute pi with some bits skipped; in other words, it allows computing specific bits of pi," Mr Sze explained to BBC News.
So why don't they just use their formula to compute the last digit of Pi already?
That would be the rational approach. Who cares about the two quadrillionth digit??
In binary? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Oh yeah? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Last Digit? (Score:4, Funny)
Irrational numbers care not for your "rational approach".
Re:an so are an infinite other digits in that numb (Score:4, Funny)
What are the odds? (Score:5, Funny)
the digit — when expressed in binary — is 0.
Jeez, what are the odds of that?
Re:So, what is the digit in decimal? (Score:4, Funny)
It is, but it's encoded in UTF-35, not ASCII.
Re:Oh yeah? (Score:4, Funny)
No it's not. Because I say so.
(See, I have a 90% chance of being right and you have a 10% chance of being right, so I win Monte Carlo testing, and I provided more evidence than you, so I win in a civil suit.)
Re:Oh yeah? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:an so are an infinite other digits in that numb (Score:5, Funny)
Amazing, so is Yahoo's profit projections within five years!
Re:Confirmation ? (Score:4, Funny)
Netcraft.
Re:Yahoo (Score:3, Funny)
Well, it will help to date the story to this year, compared to stories that run in 2012 that will say 'defunct technology firm yahoo ...'
Re:You fail math forever (Score:2, Funny)
Yeah, I've seen more credible technical journalism on the blog the guy at the yarn museum does.
Told you I'd use it.
Re:You fail math forever (Score:4, Funny)
Are you sure? 0, for large values of 0, approaches 1, for small values of 1.
Re:Confirmation ? (Score:2, Funny)
They asked some autistic dude who has it memorised to 3 quadrillion digits and he said "yes"
Re:Uh, so what? There are an infinite number of th (Score:4, Funny)
It's actually 13 orders of magnitude less significant than the 200th.
Calculated? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:an so are an infinite other digits in that numb (Score:5, Funny)
The computation took 23 days on 1,000 of Yahoo's computers, racking up the equivalent of more than 500 years of a single computer's efforts.
And before answering, the computer paused and said, "You're not going to like it ..."
Re:So, what is the digit in decimal? (Score:3, Funny)
Or perhaps convert it to ASCII to see if pi actually represents a story of some kind that is being told to us by the aliens.
You know that's the revelation at the end of a sci-fi novel by a certain revered astronomer, right?
Say 'gain?
Re:Oh yeah? (Score:1, Funny)
Shut your Pi hole!
Re:A serious question (Score:4, Funny)
That's a rather ... odd ... reaction to my post. You're hoping to eliminate my superior genes so we don't wipe you out?
Re:Oh yeah? (Score:3, Funny)
You can't handle the 2th!
Re:A serious question (Score:4, Funny)
A 'mine's bigger' sort of competition,
Would that be diameter or circumference?
Re:A serious question (Score:3, Funny)
Passtimes with PI, number 419 (Score:2, Funny)
2.Interpret binary PI as ASCII
3.Search for the complete works of William Shakespeare
4.Once found, use number to produce compact William Shakespeare quote generator.