# Question about Pi **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 11, 2021, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pi/937728 "2021-03-11T18:40:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2021, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pi/937728/21 "2021-03-12T19:46:56Z")
It should say so infinite times, in all languages ever spoken. There will be a stretch where those languages are listed alphabetically by the name of the language, another stretch where they are listed alphabetically acording to how the phrase is written in those languages, and many more possibilities. Infinity is enormous. But you would have to search for an infinitely long time to find those infinitely improbable sequences. But they are there somewhere, as is everything else, like in Borges’ infinite [Library of Babel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Library_of_Babel) (well, that one is not actually infinite) or in his [Book of Sand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Sand) (that one should be infinite). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2021, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pi/937728/22 "2021-03-12T19:47:43Z")
> [@TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](#): > > Yep, it’s guaranteed to be in there, but we just don’t know where the index is. Is it guaranteed? If we don’t know for certain that pi is normal, surely it’s not guaranteed? ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2021, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pi/937728/23 "2021-03-12T19:48:31Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Is it guaranteed? If we don’t know for certain that pi is normal, surely it’s not guaranteed? No, not guaranteed. We suspect pi is normal but this has yet to be proven. ---
**Author:** ![TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thegunismightierthanthepen/32/2981_2.png) [@TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheGunIsMightierThanThePen)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2021, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pi/937728/24 "2021-03-12T19:49:22Z")
Ok, maybe I should’ve prefaced my comment with “_assuming_ Pi is proven normal …” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2021, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pi/937728/25 "2021-03-12T19:49:58Z")
While we can’t know for sure, nor precisely, how long it would be before some longish string shows up, on average, it should take the same number of bits to express the place where it shows up as it does to express the thing you’re searching for. Thus, for instance, if you’re searching for a 50-digit number, you’ll probably have to search to a depth of somewhere around 10^50 places. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2021, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pi/937728/26 "2021-03-12T19:54:54Z")
Yes, I should have said that too. Got carried away. But _if_, then sure. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2021, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pi/937728/27 "2021-03-12T19:57:35Z")
All I can say is that somebody better make sure to post in this thread at exactly 1:59 next Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2021, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pi/937728/28 "2021-03-12T20:13:59Z")
> [@blabbermeister](#): > > Somewhere it says “Please disregard all of the following digits.” Oh, man. Somewhere it also says “Please disregard all the previous digits.” Maybe there is no meaning, man. Wow. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2021, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pi/937728/29 "2021-03-12T20:28:27Z")
> [@blabbermeister](#): > > Somewhere it says “Please disregard all of the following digits.” Somewhere it says “Kubrick is the key”. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2021, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pi/937728/30 "2021-03-12T22:51:12Z")
But it also says, The Indiana House of Representatives’ 1897 bill that would make Pi equal to exactly three was correct. And then the code disappears in a puff of smoke and the universe swallows itself. And who’s to say that’s a bad thing? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pi/937728.md?page=1)