Yahoo! researcher breaks Pi record in finding the two-quadrillionth digit

[Renew Deal]

A new record has been broken in the field of mathematics by a team of researchers and a super computer working on creating a very long version of Pi. The team, led by Nicholas Sze of Yahoo!, used the company's Hadoop cloud computing tech to break the previous record by more than double, creating the longest Pi yet. Back in January, the record was set at 2.7 trillion digits using a standard, full mathematical calculation of the problem, but the Hadoop route was different. It set different parts of the computer to work on different sections of the problem, cutting up the problem into manageable-sized pieces (as shown in the formula in the image above). We're sure this record won't survive long enough for anyone to write a song about it, but it's quite an achievement all the same.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/17/yahoo-researcher-breaks-pi-record-in-finding-the-two-quadrillio

More computer technical info: http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/hadoop-and-mapreduce-breaking-records-in-the-cloud-872

[Enrique]

1. well?

what was the two-quadrillionth digit? All that work, they might as well tell us.

[Ian David]

2. 42. n/t

[DavidDvorkin]

6. That's two digits.

[Renew Deal]

8. Bullshit!

:rofl:

[Ian David]

11. It's two digits in OUR Universe, but not in PiLand, where all numbers are in BasePi. n/t

[formercia]

9. It falls in the range of 0 to 9

That's as close as I can conjecture.

[thelordofhell]

13. Zero doesn't count

it falls in the range of 1 to 9. By the way, the next digit is 5. You're welcome.

:hi: :beer:

[geek tragedy]

3. There's something downright mystical about that number. nt

[TlalocW]

4. THIS IS A GREAT DAY FOR ALL!

Because our circles will be more circular!!!

TlalocW

[Renew Deal]

5. Circular or Spherical?

:evilgrin:

[TlalocW]

7. Circles will be more circular! Spheres will be more spherical!

Sine waves will be Sine, uh... More sine wavier!

TlalocW

[formercia]

10. and they still won't roll uphill without some force applied. n/t

[qb]

12. Oh yeah? Well I have something that's way more accurate, and easier to write:

[yellowcanine]

14. Blasphemy! GAWD - DAH says pi = 3, right here in mah BIBLE (pounds Bible)

http://gospelofreason.com/2007/06/13/god-said-pi-3-stand-by-your-beliefs-dammit/