Pi Computed To 10 Trillion Digits 414
An anonymous reader writes "A Japanese programmer that goes by the handle JA0HXV announced that he has computed Pi to 10 trillion digits. This breaks the previous world record of 5 trillion digits. Computation began in October of 2010 and finished yesterday after multiple hard disk problems, he said. Details in English are not fully available yet, but the Japanese page gives further details. JA0HXV has held computation records for Pi in the past."
What Does This Mean? (Score:5, Insightful)
Is there any practical application to this sort of thing, either having the number itself, or whatever method this guy used to arrive at it? Or is this a thumb gazing exercise?
Ham Radio Callsign (Score:3, Insightful)
Kind of obvious to me, being one. Here is his info:
http://hamcall.net/call/JA0HXV [hamcall.net]
And although I'm not first, let me congratulate Shigeru on a job well done! Oh, and to the idiot complaining of all the wasted CO2, please turn in your geek/nerd card now: computing Pi (and e and...) is NEVER a waste! :P
Re:Electricity usage (Score:5, Insightful)
Probably not nearly as much as other useless endeavors, such as playing computer games, updating facebook status, or watching super bowl. And reading slashdot, of course.
Re:What Does This Mean? (Score:2, Insightful)
If you're off by nearly the width of a human hair, it's not a perfect circle now, is it? Sheesh.