Interview with Japanese researcher who calculated Pi with an accuracy of 2.5 trillion characters
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By the day of Pi, I decided to translate such an interview. Also, happy birthday to Einstein!
On August 17, 2009, an associate professor at Tsukuba University in Japan, Daisuke Takahashi, announced that his research team had calculated the Pi number with an amazing accuracy of 2.5 trillion characters . The group used at that time the 47th place in the world ranking of a supercomputer. This accuracy exceeds more than 2 times the previous record recorded in the Guinness Book of Records in 2002 and amounted to 1.2 trillion characters, which was established by another Japanese group of researchers.
Then, on December 31, 2009, French programmer Fabrice Bellard stated that he had surpassed the Takahashi record by 120 billion characters using a significantly weaker computer. Although the amazing success of Mr. Bellard seems to have set a record using limited resources and a more efficient algorithm , Professor Takahashi wrote to me in an email interview right after he announced his record in August, that the purpose of his work was to largely investigate the number Pi itself (and not just calculating it with great accuracy).
Here is a translation of my correspondence with Professor Takahashi about his work related to the number of Pi:
Question: Why are you exploring Pi? What is your interest in him?
Prof. Takahashi:Circles and spheres are the most beautiful figures in the world. If you want to know why I think so, it is because they do not change, no matter where you look at them. However, I also think that the infinitely continuing number 3.14 ..., obtained from the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, is extremely mysterious. That is the reason for my interest in him.
Since the time of Archimedes, who calculated the value of the Pi number (3.14) in the 3rd century BC, efforts to calculate more accurately the values did not stop. The number of figures was considered one of the indicators of the development of civilization. Also, Pi calculation can be used to evaluate the speed and reliability of computers. I will research it for these reasons.
Question: Why did you decide to calculate Pi with an accuracy of 2.5 trillion characters?
Prof. Takahashi:So far, the most accurate value was pi at 1.2411 trillion characters, calculated by a group from Tokyo University of Information Technology and Hitach. This time, our goal was to double this number.
Question: Do you think you have succeeded?
Prof. Takahasi: I think so. Also, there were no malfunctions in the system during the execution of calculations. I think we were able to prove the reliability of the T2K Tsukuba supercomputer.
Question: Would you like to continue research? If so, how many characters do you want to calculate?
Prof. Takahashi:This time I had a happy opportunity to use the new supercomputer, but if I have one more such chance, I would like to continue the study. If possible, I would like to calculate as many characters as the computer can.
Question: I heard that you found interesting sequences in Pi and 1 / Pi. Which one is the most interesting? Why (exactly her)?
Prof. Takahashi: I don’t have any particular reason, but I find the sequences of the same number, for example 8888888888888 in Pi, and 3333333333333 and 4444444444444 in 1 / Pi the most interesting.
Question: Do you think that there is any pattern in Pi or 1 / Pi?
Prof. Takahashi:I used to think that if in Pi or 1 / Pi the message of God, then there is some pattern in it. But now I think that the very randomness of Pi can be such a message.
Question: What will you investigate further? Would you like to set another math record?
Prof. Takahashi: During the calculation of the Pi number, more than 70% of the time was spent by the supercomputer on fast Fourier transforms. So far, I have been researching efficient fast Fourier transform algorithms . In the future I want to continue these studies.
(Last) question: What is your favorite cake? (pie, consonant with Pi)
Prof. Takahasi: I don't often eat cakes, but if I had to answer, I would call apple.
On August 17, 2009, an associate professor at Tsukuba University in Japan, Daisuke Takahashi, announced that his research team had calculated the Pi number with an amazing accuracy of 2.5 trillion characters . The group used at that time the 47th place in the world ranking of a supercomputer. This accuracy exceeds more than 2 times the previous record recorded in the Guinness Book of Records in 2002 and amounted to 1.2 trillion characters, which was established by another Japanese group of researchers.
Then, on December 31, 2009, French programmer Fabrice Bellard stated that he had surpassed the Takahashi record by 120 billion characters using a significantly weaker computer. Although the amazing success of Mr. Bellard seems to have set a record using limited resources and a more efficient algorithm , Professor Takahashi wrote to me in an email interview right after he announced his record in August, that the purpose of his work was to largely investigate the number Pi itself (and not just calculating it with great accuracy).
Here is a translation of my correspondence with Professor Takahashi about his work related to the number of Pi:
Question: Why are you exploring Pi? What is your interest in him?
Prof. Takahashi:Circles and spheres are the most beautiful figures in the world. If you want to know why I think so, it is because they do not change, no matter where you look at them. However, I also think that the infinitely continuing number 3.14 ..., obtained from the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, is extremely mysterious. That is the reason for my interest in him.
Since the time of Archimedes, who calculated the value of the Pi number (3.14) in the 3rd century BC, efforts to calculate more accurately the values did not stop. The number of figures was considered one of the indicators of the development of civilization. Also, Pi calculation can be used to evaluate the speed and reliability of computers. I will research it for these reasons.
Question: Why did you decide to calculate Pi with an accuracy of 2.5 trillion characters?
Prof. Takahashi:So far, the most accurate value was pi at 1.2411 trillion characters, calculated by a group from Tokyo University of Information Technology and Hitach. This time, our goal was to double this number.
Question: Do you think you have succeeded?
Prof. Takahasi: I think so. Also, there were no malfunctions in the system during the execution of calculations. I think we were able to prove the reliability of the T2K Tsukuba supercomputer.
Question: Would you like to continue research? If so, how many characters do you want to calculate?
Prof. Takahashi:This time I had a happy opportunity to use the new supercomputer, but if I have one more such chance, I would like to continue the study. If possible, I would like to calculate as many characters as the computer can.
Question: I heard that you found interesting sequences in Pi and 1 / Pi. Which one is the most interesting? Why (exactly her)?
Prof. Takahashi: I don’t have any particular reason, but I find the sequences of the same number, for example 8888888888888 in Pi, and 3333333333333 and 4444444444444 in 1 / Pi the most interesting.
Question: Do you think that there is any pattern in Pi or 1 / Pi?
Prof. Takahashi:I used to think that if in Pi or 1 / Pi the message of God, then there is some pattern in it. But now I think that the very randomness of Pi can be such a message.
Question: What will you investigate further? Would you like to set another math record?
Prof. Takahashi: During the calculation of the Pi number, more than 70% of the time was spent by the supercomputer on fast Fourier transforms. So far, I have been researching efficient fast Fourier transform algorithms . In the future I want to continue these studies.
(Last) question: What is your favorite cake? (pie, consonant with Pi)
Prof. Takahasi: I don't often eat cakes, but if I had to answer, I would call apple.