Google Cloud developer champion Emma Haruka Iwao broke her own record from three years ago for the number of digits calculated for pi. In 2019, she was able to calculate pi to its 31.4 trillionth digit, and now, with the same Google Cloud y-cruncher program Iwao was able to find pi to the 100 trillionth digit, which is zero.
After the process started in October 2021, it took until March 2022 for the computers to be ready. At 157 days, compared to 121 days spent figuring out a shorter number in 2019, it went more than twice as fast. According to Iwao, she used the same tools and techniques, but the faster speed is due to how Google Cloud’s components have since improved with 100 Gbps networks, balanced Persistent Disks and other features. detailed in this deep dive into the calculations†
We did it again! We have successfully calculated 100 trillion digits of π using @googlecloud, a new world record! Check out the announcement here for more technical details https://t.co/UKcFchGisl
— Emma Haruka Iwao ️ ️⚧️ (@Yuryu) June 8, 2022
Another key difference is the massive amounts of data that are processed to calculate numbers this far. During the first record-breaking calculation, computers processed about 19,000 TB (terabytes) of data, according to the blog post. This time to calculate 100 trillion digits, the computer was processing about 82,000 TB of data.
The blog post also had some fun facts to point out precisely how big 100 trillion is to us humans. Apparently, 100 trillion inches of pie crust would extend 3,304 times from Earth to the Moon and back. If you want to download all 100 trillion digits yourself or see the source code they used, you can get it here†
Still, even with the extra processing speed, the announcement missed Pi Day 2022. But it’s just in time for Tau Day which falls on June 28 at the end of this month and celebrates another circle constant that’s been overlooked because it doesn’t rhyme with pie.
