Pi storage

Let me share my worst "best idea ever" moment.  Sometime during my undergraduate I thought I had solved all the world's problems.

You see, on this fateful day, my hard drive was full. I hate it when my hard drive fills up, it means I have to go and get rid of some of my stuff.  I hate getting rid of my stuff.  But what can someone do?

And then it hit me, I had the bright idea:

What if we didn't have to store things, what if we could just compute files whenever we wanted them back?

Sounds like an awesome idea, right?  I know.  But how could we compute our files?  Well, as you may know pi is conjectured to be a normal number, meaning its digits are probably random.  We also know that it is irrational, meaning pi never ends....

A Clarification

As there seems to be some confusion among my fellow Virtuosi, I wanted to point out that Pi day occurs on July 22nd or, in the year 4159, on January 3rd.

Today is in fact Seventh Power Day.

Pi-rithmetic

Fun fact:  pi squared is very close to 10.  How close?  Well, Wolfram Alpha tells me that it is only about 1% off.

I first realized this fact when looking at my slide rule, pictured to the left (click to embiggen), just another reason why slide rules are awesome.

It turns out I use this fact all of the time.  How's that you ask?  Well, I use this fast to enable me to do very quick mental arithmetic.

Moving Pi-ctures

My TV celebrates without me.

Today, as I'm sure you're aware, is Pi Day - a day for the festive consumption of pies and quiet self-reflection.  In the spirit of the holiday, I'd like to present a point for discussion:

Everyone has a great talent for at least one thing.

That this is true for at least some people is seen through even a cursory glance at a history book:  George Washington was really good at leading revolutions, Michelangelo was an outstanding ceiling painter [1], and Batman was the best at solving complex riddles (especially in English, pero especialmente en español).

But I'm certain that this holds for everyone.  What's your talent? Mine, as those of you who read this blog should know very well by now, is certainly not doing physics.  Nope, my talent is watching TV.  Seriously guys, I watch TV like a boss [2].  In light of this talent, I thought I would describe a few instances in which I have seen pi represented (for better or for worse) in TV and movies.

A Very Small Slice of Pi

Rhubarb pie (Source: Wikipedia)

Some people know a suspiciously large number of the digits of pi.  Perhaps you have met one of these people.  They can typically be found hiding behind bushes and under the counters at pastry shops, just... waiting.

At the slightest hint of a mention of pi, they will jump out and start reciting the digits like there's a prize at the end.  After rattling off numbers for a few minutes they abruptly come to an end, grin like an idiot, and walk away.  It is an unpleasant encounter.

The sheer uselessness of this kind of thing has always bothered me, so I'd like to set a preliminary upper bound on the number of digits of pi that could ever possibly potentially kind of be useful (maybe).  For those following along at home, now would be a good time to put on your numerology hats.

Primes in Pi

Recently, I've been concerned with the fact that I don't know many large primes.  Why?  I don't know.  This has led to a search for easy to remember prime numbers.  I've found a few goods ones, namely

• 867-5309  - Jenny's number
•  the digit 1 - 1031 times, in the style of the picture to above, and the largest known repunit prime
• 1987 (my birth year), 2011 (last year), 1999 (the party year)

But then I remembered that I already know 50 digits of pi, memorized one boring day in grade school, so this got me wondering whether there were any primes among the digits of pi

Lo an behold, I wrote a little script, and found a few:

Found one, with 1 digits, is: 3 Found one, with 2 digits, is: 31 Found one, with 6 digits, is: 314159 Found a rounded one with 12 digits, is: 314159265359 Found one, with 38 digits, is: 31415926535897932384626433832795028841

I think it's usual for most science geeks to know pi to at least 3.14159, if you're one of those people, now you know a 6 digit prime! for free!