pi
Latest
Nevermind the Pi music, here's what Tau sounds like (video)
There's a heated debate going on in the exciting world of mathematics that pits notoriously irrational pi against relative newcomer tau. Wherever side of the fence your math club's allegiance may lie, a quick listen to Michael Blake's newest nerd composition could have your circle singing a different equation. Perhaps spurred by the copyright brouhaha that yanked his earlier musical extrapolation -- What Pi Sounds Like -- from the YouTubes, Blake set this interpretation of the controversial constant to 126 decimal places and let'er rip at 125.6 bpm. What follows is a not-unpleasant symphony that should have Bjork's producers calling for a collaboration. Full video for the prog-rock nation after the break.
Supercomputer cracks sixty-trillionth binary digit of Pi-squared, gets beaten up by normal computers
Pencils down, everyone. IBM's "BlueGene/P" supercomputer has beaten you to the sixty-trillionth binary digit of Pi-squared after only a few months -- at one quadrillion calculations per second. Running thousands of independent processors, the number-crunching monster accomplished what would have taken a single CPU 1,500 years. A cloud-computing effort last year calculated Pi itself out to the two-quadrillionth digit, but you may wonder why this all matters. "What is interesting in these computations is that until just a few years ago, it was widely believed that such mathematical objects were forever beyond the reach of human reasoning or machine computation," said one researcher, "Once again we see the utter futility in placing limits on human ingenuity and technology." So there's that. But in all the commotion no one seems to have announced whether the landmark digit was a one or a zero: all you betting on the outcome will have to dig deeper into the source link.
It's Pi Day. Do you know what 3.1415926535897932384626433832795 sounds like?
It may not be marked on most calendars, but if you're a math nerd (or a nerd in general -- of which we count ourselves, obviously), you know what March 14th is. It's 3/14, otherwise known as the first three digits of Pi. That's since become a minor geek holiday of sorts, and has prompted some fairly unique celebrations over the years. One of the latest comes from musician Michael John Blake, who interpreted Pi to the first 31 decimal places as musical notes and turned it into a song -- played at 157 beats per minute, no less (or half of 314). As it turns out, however, Blake wasn't the first to come up with the idea -- composer Lars Erickson wrote his own "Pi Symphony" a few years back, and has now sparked a bit of a copyright spat on YouTube over who actually owns the rights to Pi in musical form. Head on past the break to check out both versions for yourself.
Yahoo! researcher breaks Pi record in finding the two-quadrillionth digit
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.
Pi counted to 5 trillionth digit, 90 days and one spec'd out custom rig later
Remember that girl in your high school math class who would always get extra credit by memorizing more digits of Pi? Well, if you ever hear her utter "9484283852," well, you've probably already finished your college applications (and maybe even earn a degree or two). That ten-digit string is the lead-up to the 5 trillionth number, reportedly a new world record calculated using special software from Alexander Yee (y-cruncher) and a pretty awesome custom-built rig by Japanese Pi-pusher Shigeru Kondo -- a pair of 3.33GHz Intel Xeon X5680, 96GB DDR3 RAM, about 39TB of storage, and Windows Server 2008. All in all, the computation and verification took about 90 days to accomplish. Full, fascinating details at the source link.
One Shots: So happy together
With the advent of Planetary Interaction in EVE Online, more and more corporations are finding reasons to work together -- after all, there's a lot of ISK to be made! But what is sometimes surprising is just what form those interactions wind up taking. Today we have a rather silly image of just how far inter-alliance fleet maneuvers can go when you're not paying attention. This image comes to us from Clovermite, who writes in: "I was managing my Planetary Interaction structures while doing a mining op. It was actually a pretty significant event, as it was the first inter-alliance fleet we formed since signing a non-aggression pact. When I exited out of the PI interface, I was a bit baffled to see such a strange looking ship... Then it dawned on me -- the guy from the other alliance had unwittingly sidled the fore of his ship into the aft of mine. But hey, I guess there's no better way to seal inter-alliance cooperation than an interracial 'transaction' between an Orca and an Osprey. We both had a good laugh and took screenshots." Have you caught an awkwardly silly screenshot in your favorite game? Feel like sharing? We'd love to see it. All you have to do is email it to us here at oneshots@massively.com, along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what we're seeing. We'll post it out here and give you the credit! %Gallery-85937%
15 Minutes of Fame: The Pi Guy
15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. Sorry, no typos in the headline. It's not the pie meme that's the topic of today's 15 Minutes of Fame. (You'll have to turn elsewhere for your just desserts.) We really do mean pi -- you know, 3.14159 ... We're not quite sure how pi and WoW go together. And frankly, neither are players on US Llane, where the mysterious Pi Guy holds court in Trade. "He's in Trade chat spamming pi and other fascinating formulas, like how 99.9 = 1," writes our tipster, "which makes sense after he shows you the steps ... which he does. He's got top-of-the-line gear, which in itself is a nice thing. But on top of that, he's a math genius. A very mysterious math genius." We suppose community fascinations have formed up around more bizarre memes than pi. But a mysterious mathematician lurking in Trade? How could we allow this stone to remain unturned? Without further delay, we offer up for your consideration the curious tale of Gauss, the Pi Guy.
Apple's tasty calculator mistake
In a recent tip, TUAW reader Dr. Drang told us about a bug he found on the iPhone/iPod touch's calculator. According to his research, when you type π × 2 + 5 = into the calculator you get 11.283... (the correct answer). However, when you reverse the Pi and 2, entering 2 × π + 5, the answer given is 7. This error can be demonstrated by entering Pi (3.141592654) manually, instead of using the Pi button -- you will get the correct answer each time. Therefore, this error only shows up when you use the Pi button. So, be sure to read up on this bug from the tipsters website before you use the calculator for anything too important.Update: Reader Vineet writes in the comments to note that he believes this behavior is typical of stack-based calculators and should be considered more of an operator-expectations issue than a true bug. Dr. Drang responds (with a little bit of attitude) to disagree, maintaining that the behavior is a legitimate bug.Thanks for the tip, Dr. Drang!
Electrobike Pi: the pricey hybrid electric bicycle
Hot on the heels of Matra's MS1 comes yet another human / electric-powered hybrid bike, but Marcus Levison-Hays' Electrobike Pi definitely rocks a more unorthodox design. This blindingly red transporter "combines the lightweight portability of a bicycle with speed and self-propulsion more akin to a motorcycle," as it includes a 36-volt pack of NiMH batteries that provides "about one horsepower" to the 58-pound device. The unit can be fully charged "from any standard household outlet in 2.5 to 3 hours and can run for 25 to 30 miles," and according to a report from the LA Times, the 20mph maximum stock speed can be increased to around 46mph "with a little after-market hot rodding." Granted, the base price on this thing is said to be around $7,500, so it looks like the most of us will have to stick with the trusty Huffy ten-speed for the time being.[Via AutoblogGreen]
Archimedes' Dream: Pi on an OLED ray
Sure, you can roll old school with a Waterford chandelier slung from the ceiling. Better yet, why not fantasize about ancient mathematical screws with the help of this, the "Archimedes Dream" from designer Makoto Tojiki. The glowing ribbon of pale blue (or pink) light is constructed from our favorite kind of LEDs -- OLEDs. Better yet, if you look closely, you'll find an approximation of Archimedes' constant, Pi, gently swirling methodically into exhaustion. Designed for ceiling suspension or for use as a floor lamp. Eureka!
My Mac needs a Tardis
The boys at BoingBoing stumble across so many wonderful things--and today they've topped themselves again. A Tardis-shaped USB hub. I want one. No, I need one. Not just for me, but for my Mac. Because I'm unselfish like that. Call me a geek, call me a nerd, whatever. The Tardis-hub has 4 ports and it goes vwooorp-vwooorp when you plug in a device. Can technology get any better than that? I think not. It's theoretically for sale over at Firebox, but the page says it's currently unavailable. Nothing, of course, that a little space-time manipulation can't solve. If US purchasers don't mind ordering overseas, it's available at Amazon UK (for £14.99), Forbidden Planet, Play.com, and so forth.
Steampunk laptop comes complete with Morse key
We're not exactly sure how this actually works, but a creative Japanese fellow seems to have created a laptop that looks like something out of the movie "Pi." It's apparently a functioning laptop, with mechanical keys, a wooden space bar, and a stylish Morse key over the trackball. It's even got USB, Ethernet, and all the modern trimmings. Click, or tap, rather, on over to the next page to check out a closeup of that Morse key...[Via Boing Boing]
