# Pi. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 25, 2001, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/51659 "2001-01-25T03:17:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Deimos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Deimos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deimos)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/51659/1 "2001-01-25T03:17:08Z")
how far have they calculated pi to? ---
**Author:** ![Arjuna34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/51659/2 "2001-01-25T03:41:36Z")
You can download the first 6,442,450,000 digits here. I don’t think there’s been as big a push to compute digits of pi since the recent algorithms which allow arbitrary digits to be computed without computing the previous digits (i.e. you can computed the one millionth digit without computing the first 999,999 digits). Here’s a link the [Bailey-Borwein-Plouffe Algorithm](http://www.mathsoft.com/asolve/plouffe/plouffe.html), which works with hex pi digits, and a [later article](http://www.lacim.uqam.ca/plouffe/Simon/articlepi.html) by Simon Plouffe on doing the same thin in base 10. Arjuna34 ---
**Author:** ![Speleophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@Speleophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speleophile)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/51659/3 "2001-01-25T03:51:09Z")
You mean with our without all the digits, since it’s now known how to calculate the nth digit (in hexadecimal, at least) without having to mess around with all the others ahead of it? So if you want to know the 12 quadrillionth digit, it’s not too hard to figure out. I’ve seen a claim for 206,158,430,000 decimal digits, but that was made in Oct '99. Almost surely been surpassed by now. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/51659/4 "2001-01-25T04:14:34Z")
It’s amazing what happens without making major news…I can’t believe I hadn’t heard about this until now…wow. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/51659/5 "2001-01-25T04:30:15Z")
Phobos and the OPer should get together and throw off the path of Mars around the Sun. And to answer the OP, more than you even want to look at. It would quite possibly make you vomit:) ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@MonkeyMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMan)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/51659/6 "2001-01-25T04:31:53Z")
I don’t know that I would classify any of this “major news” unless any use for the 206,158,430,000th digit of pi has been discovered. Precision’s fine, but there’s a point at which updates get redundant. I would put that point at the 206 billionth decimal. ---
**Author:** ![jbird3000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/aeb1de/32.png) [@jbird3000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jbird3000)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/51659/7 "2001-01-25T04:58:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MonkeyMan \* > \*\*I don’t know that I would classify any of this “major news” unless any use for the 206,158,430,000th digit of pi has been discovered. Precision’s fine, but there’s a point at which updates get redundant. I would put that point at the 206 billionth decimal. \*\* I would put the point after the 3. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/51659/8 "2001-01-25T05:21:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MonkeyMan \* > \*\*I don’t know that I would classify any of this “major news” unless any use for the 206,158,430,000th digit of pi has been discovered. Precision’s fine, but there’s a point at which updates get redundant. I would put that point at the 206 billionth decimal. \*\* OK, but if you do, you’ll miss the secret message from God. It starts at the trillionth digit. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/51659/9 "2001-01-25T05:21:34Z")
The main reason they want to calculate Pi to umpteen digits is to check certain predictions of number theory. ---
**Author:** ![sethdallob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@sethdallob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sethdallob)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/51659/10 "2001-01-25T05:43:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lumpy \* > \*\*The main reason they want to calculate Pi to umpteen digits is to check certain predictions of number theory. > \*\* [hijack] And what, praytell, does number theory predict? I thought that numbers were pretty much, well, numbers. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/51659/11 "2001-01-25T05:44:49Z")
Now for the next problem. **What is the maximum number of consecutive zeros in the decimal realm of pi?** 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Arjuna34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/51659/12 "2001-01-25T05:50:50Z")
Here’s Cecil on how and why we compute pi to bazillions of decimal places: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3\_357.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_357.html) This was written before the previously mentioned discoveries, which I considered major news, btw 🙂 Arjuna34 ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/51659/13 "2001-01-25T06:53:31Z")
The big news is that they can now calculate it to any place, without having to start at the beginning. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/51659/14 "2001-01-25T08:20:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Speleophile \* > I’ve seen a claim for 206,158,430,000 decimal digits, but that was made in Oct '99. Almost surely been surpassed by now. That’s the last I’ve heard. You can download those 206 billion digits here: [Pi archives via FTP](http://ftp.super-computing.org/pi.html) ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/51659/15 "2001-01-25T08:22:30Z")
Sorry, I misread what you can say at that page. I should say “You can read some information about that calculation” at the link I posted. ---
**Author:** ![Phobos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Phobos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phobos)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/51659/16 "2001-01-25T13:54:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by iampunha \* > \*\*Phobos and the OPer should get together and throw off the path of Mars around the Sun. > \*\* I’m game. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/51659/17 "2001-01-25T14:09:38Z")
**Phobos** and **Deimos** are both hale fellows well met, but all their mass and momentum put together couldn’t do squat to the orbit of Mars. Is there a proof somewhere that pi really is irrational, and infinite? How can mathematicians be sure the number wouldn’t just end somewhere after the 206,158,430,001st digit? ---
**Author:** ![Arjuna34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/51659/18 "2001-01-25T14:20:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Five \* > \*\ ***Phobos** and **Deimos** are both hale fellows well met, but all their mass and momentum put together couldn’t do squat to the orbit of Mars. > > Is there a proof somewhere that pi really is irrational, and infinite? How can mathematicians be sure the number wouldn’t just end somewhere after the 206,158,430,001st digit? \*\* Here’s [one proof](http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~hr/numb/pi-irr.html). It was first proved in 1768. Arjuna34 ---
**Author:** ![Deimos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Deimos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deimos)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2001, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/51659/19 "2001-01-26T01:50:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by iampunha \* > \*\*Phobos and the OPer should get together and throw off the path of Mars around the Sun. > \*\* we would, but the rent’s cheap. 😃