# Another Pi question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 13, 2002, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pi-question/142608 "2002-12-13T20:54:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![murphydog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@murphydog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/murphydog)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pi-question/142608/41 "2002-12-22T23:36:11Z")
Imagine the excitement, then disappointment that early mathamaticians had when they calcuated pi longhand and found that decimal places 762 thru 767 were all “9”. They were probably tearing thier hair out when the discovered that the place 768 was “8”. ---
**Author:** ![bryanmcc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@bryanmcc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bryanmcc)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pi-question/142608/42 "2002-12-23T13:32:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by murphydog \* > \*\*Imagine the excitement, then disappointment that early mathamaticians had when they calcuated pi longhand and found > that decimal places 762 thru 767 were all “9”. They were probably tearing thier hair out when the discovered that the place 768 was “8”. \*\* **Murphydog** , according to [this](http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Pi_chronology.html) site, that many digits of pi weren’t calculated until 1947, and by then it was done with a computer. The most digits calculated by hand was 620 in 1946 (apparently by the same guy). -b ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Dickerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Scott\_Dickerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Dickerson)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pi-question/142608/43 "2002-12-23T21:12:37Z")
Bryanmcc, betcha ol’ Murphydog was making a joke! ---
**Author:** ![bryanmcc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@bryanmcc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bryanmcc)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pi-question/142608/44 "2002-12-23T21:40:00Z")
Whoosh. ---
**Author:** ![murphydog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@murphydog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/murphydog)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pi-question/142608/45 "2002-12-23T22:58:06Z")
No joke. I have a QB program that will calculate pi to any number of decimal places. It’s free but it’s a dos program. You need QBasic to run it. [EMAIL=ronfrancis@att.net]Request it if anybody wants it. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pi-question/142608/46 "2002-12-24T01:28:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bryanmcc \* > \*\ ***Murphydog** , according to [this](http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Pi_chronology.html) site, that many digits of pi weren’t calculated until 1947, and by then it was done with a computer. The most digits calculated by hand was 620 in 1946 (apparently by the same guy). > > -b \*\* Yes, he calculated it by hand 3 times, got different answers each time and it turned out his first answer was the closest anyway. ---
**Author:** ![bryanmcc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@bryanmcc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bryanmcc)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pi-question/142608/47 "2002-12-24T13:52:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shalmanese \* > \*\*Yes, he calculated it by hand 3 times, got different answers each time and it turned out his first answer was the closest anyway. \*\* Talk about someone with too much time on their hands. -b [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-pi-question/142608.md?page=2)