how to generate pi in c

[Mike McCarty]

Marko Vojinovic wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 6, 2010 at 8:43 AM, Mogens Kjaer <mk at lemo.dk> wrote:
>>> http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~ooura/pi_fft.html
>>>
>>> You'll need RAM to get many digits.
>> 1.6 G decimals in 20 hours on a machine with 16G RAM, running
>> x86_64 Fedora 12.
> 
> Really, I'm curious, is there any real-world problem where anyone
> would actually *need* pi to a G decimal places? I mean, are these kind
> of computations actually useful for someone, or is it just a matter of
> "we have the power to do it, so let's do it" thing? Other than entry
> into the Guinness book of records, that is?

Yes, there is. Belated response, I know.

There are two important uses for such computations I can
think of off the top of my head.

First, it's a good test of the functionality of a new machine.
When the first new unit runs off the factory floor, this type
of lengthy computation with known results is a good test.

Second, there are certain theoretical ideas about the distribution
of digits in transcendental numbers which can make progress via
such lengthy computations.

Nobody needs more than about 6 figures for doing any engineering
work, however.

Mike
-- 
p="p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
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