New world record! This number has been accurate to 105 trillion decimal places

According to the American Fun Science Network, on International Pi Day (March 14), Solidigm, a computer storage company headquartered in California, USA, issued a statement saying that the company has calculated Pi (π) to about 105 trillion decimal places, breaking the previous world record of 100 trillion digits. The calculation took 75 days and used 36 of the company's proprietary solid-state drives to store approximately 1 million GB of data, requiring computing power equivalent to hundreds of thousands of smartphones. In April 2023, Solidigm tied the record set by Google Cloud in 2022 for calculating Pi to 100 trillion decimal places.

Numerical calculation of pi

Pi is represented by the Greek letter π, which is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. The name π comes from the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet, and mathematicians have been using it to represent a constant since the early 18th century. Pi is not complicated. When we were in elementary school, our teachers taught us to memorize the value of pi, which is between 3.1415926 and 3.1415927.

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When it comes to pi, we have to mention the ancient Chinese mathematician Zu Chongzhi. Based on Liu Hui's calculations during the Three Kingdoms period, he used the method of "circle-slicing" to calculate pi with a regular 24,576-sided polygon, and found that it was about 355/113. Compared with the true value, the error was less than one in eight hundred million. This was the earliest and most accurate value of pi calculated in the world, and this discovery was hundreds of years ahead of the world. Zu Chongzhi and his son Zu Geng used the value of pi to calculate the surface area of ​​a sphere, which is the world-famous "Zu Geng Principle".

For thousands of years, mathematicians have been persistently pursuing this infinite non-repeating decimal, trying every possible way to measure the exact value of pi. The International Mathematics Day that just passed was established on March 14th every year to commemorate Zu Chongzhi.

Pi is the key value for accurately calculating geometric shapes such as the circumference of a circle, the area of ​​a circle, the volume of a sphere, etc. But in reality, the mystery and charm of pi far exceeds our imagination.

π and sports have a close relationship

A soccer ball is round. According to FIFA standards, the circumference of a soccer ball is between 68 and 70 centimeters. Dividing this by π, the diameter is approximately between 21.6 and 22.3 centimeters. The slight difference in the diameter of the ball, through the amplifier π, is enough to cause a change in its aerodynamic properties, thus affecting the flight of the ball.

Not only football, but all ball sports seem to be dominated by π.

Compared to large ball sports such as football, small balls such as tennis and table tennis are more easily affected by π, and the most important reason is rotation.

More than 20 years ago, table tennis changed from a small ball to a large ball, which once brought challenges to the national table tennis team, but the national players quickly adapted through extensive training and still dominated the table tennis world. Today, with the support of artificial intelligence and robotics technology, table tennis robots that can play with various rotations and speeds have been launched, defending the honor of the national sport and adding the wings of technology.

Entering the era of artificial intelligence, many areas of sports are deeply dominated by π. When Ke Jie was bitten by "AlphaGo", it should be remembered that the fangs of the Monte Carlo algorithm of artificial intelligence originated from the "pin throwing experiment" of Frenchman Buffon to calculate π more than 200 years ago.

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To realize the dream of space travel and reach the moon, the key lies in this “π”

In space exploration, calculating the exact value of pi can help scientists determine the orbits of planets and the flight paths of spacecraft. In addition, calculating the volume, area, and orbit of a planet is inseparable from π.

For example, in order to achieve a smooth landing, engineers must design a sufficiently reliable and effective parachute, which generally involves the following factors: the mass and speed of the spacecraft, the height of the landing point, the density of the atmosphere, etc., and these data are closely related to π.

When tracking an asteroid, scientists at ground-based monitoring centers need to determine how fast an observed object is rotating. By observing the object, scientists can estimate how long it takes for an object to rotate around its axis. Pi is the key conversion factor in this estimation process.

In the era of artificial intelligence, will there come a day when humans will exhaust all its values? Let us wait and see.

Comprehensive sources: Xinhua News Agency, China National Radio, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, etc.