At the time, Shanks was the fastest "computer" around. It took him 15 years to do so!" he explains. “"In comparison, in 1874, William Shanks calculated the number of Pi to 707 decimal places. "The unfathomable speed, and the huge numbers a computer can process in a very short time and with incredible precision" surprised even Keller. The wrong programming can absolutely sink a project in terms of increasing computation time. This is a really important point to make, because these records are set as the result of careful mathematical thinking, as well as the practical concerns of programming a computer to do what we want. "But tuning the system to maximum performance is an important aspect of our future calculations in the area of applied research and development."
"Speed is not relevant per se in these record runs, as only the number of digits is important for the world record," Keller says.
#Scientists calculate pi to trillion digits code#
And for what it's worth, simply having an algorithm to use is one thing, but how you "implement" that algorithm in code can vary a great deal.
Because the last several records have all used the same algorithm, any changes in speed represent something in the programming or computing power on display. The Chudnovsky algorithm involves the intersection of complex, advanced mathematics you'll have to dig into on your own (see above).īack to the new record, though. In reality, we must have complicated formulae to get the right individual digits that calculate out to as many decimal places as possible. In theory, if you can draw and measure a perfect circle, you can calculate pi by simply dividing one value by the other. Pi is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. But all the algorithms to solve for pi are working off a hypothetical version of a very real problem. How do we calculate pi, anyway? Well, this team and the last several groups to break the world record have used a special formula called the Chudnovsky algorithm, developed in 1988. And in this case, the record came at a much faster speed-good news for the supercomputer. Setting the record is cool, but that's all it is. So calculating pi itself, Keller says, is a fun and attention-grabbing side effect of supercomputing, rather than a specific goal. They also completed their record run nearly four times faster than the previous one.
These scientists have not just broken the world record for the most calculated digits of pi, but they've smashed it, moving beyond the existing record of 50 trillion digits to reach a whopping 62.8 trillion digits using a supercomputer. Usually, when we talk about pi, we talk about the number 3.14, but because its decimals never end, nor do they settle into a pattern, pi's digits go on, theoretically, forever. Researchers at the Swiss university Fachhochschule Graubünden claim that they've broken the world record for the most calculated digits of pi, a mathematical constant that describes the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. The new record is enabled by a supercomputer running a specialized algorithm.Ĭalculating pi is a symbolic way to demonstrate real computing power. Researchers have set a new record for calculating digits of pi: 62.8 trillion decimals.
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