this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2024
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StorageReview and our partners have just solved Pi to 105 trillion places, a new world record that bests the prior record by five percent.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago (8 children)

We’re already past the point where calculating more digits of pi is either interesting or useful. The formula for calculating pi is well known, so at this point all it is is how much compute power and time can you throw at the infinite series equation.

Pi is only useful for practical purposes out to around 21 digits — with that many digits you can calculate the diameter of the entire universe down to an accuracy of a single electron. Anything more has no real practical benefits. Even NASA only uses 16 digits of Pi for any calculation in-solar system; anything more is just burning compute power (and possibly running into issues with floating point rounding issues) for no additional benefit.

Ten years from now when computers are significantly more powerful, someone will break this record for the lulz.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (2 children)

According to Wolfram alpha, diameter of electron divided by diameter of the universe is 3.2*10^42

Pretty sure 21 digits is not enough. More like 42 digits

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Ah yes, the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything.

How many digits of pi are necessary to calculate the diameter of the visible universe to within the diameter of a single electron?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

It being the same number as some book is just a coincidence, but if the difference in size between universe and an electron is 10^42, then you literally need 42 digits of pi too.

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