Google Cloud just calculated the first 100 trillion digits of pi

Google Cloud just calculated the first 100 trillion digits of piIn a new world record.Brad Bergan| Jun 08, 2022 11:26 AM ESTCreated: Jun 08, 2022 11:26 AM EST Updated: Jun 09, 2022 07:57 AM ESTscienceA computer rendering of the Greek letter “pi”, with digits spiraling outward.Rawf8 / iStockGet a daily digest of the latest news in tech, science, and technology, delivered right to your mailbox. Subscribe now.By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Policies You may unsubscribe at any time.In 2019, Google Cloud calculated pi — the irrational number discovered thousands of years ago — out to 31.4 trillion digits. That was a world record. But then, in 2021, scientists from the University of Applied Sciences of the Grisons tacked on another 31.4 trillion digits to the figure, raising the total to 62.8 trillion decimal places.But now, Google Cloud has shattered the latest record, calculating pi out to an unprecedented 100 trillion digits, according to a press release.Hold on tight.How Google Cloud calculated pi to 100 trillion digitsThis marks the second time Google Cloud has set a record for the number of digits of the mathematical constant. And the number of digits of pi calculated has tripled in only three years. See Also “This achievement is a testament to how much faster Google Cloud infrastructure gets, year in, year out,” read the press release from Google Cloud. “The underlying technology that made this possible is Compute Engine, Google Cloud’s secure and customizable compute service, and its several recent additions and improvements: the Compute Engine N2 machine family, 100 Gbps egress bandwidth, Google Virtual NIC, and balanced Persistent Disks.”Get more updates on this story and more with The Blueprint, our daily newsletter: Sign up here for free.The program that executed the calculation of 100 trillion digits of pi is called y-cruncher v0.7.8, by Alexander J. Yee. The algorithm employed is called the Chudnovsky algorithm. The computing node involved is an n2-highmem-128 with 128 vCPUs and an 864-GB RAM.The calculation itself began on Thursday, October 14, at 12:45 AM EDT in 2021, and ended on Monday, March 21, at 12:16 AM EDT, in 2022. That’s 157 days, 23 hours, 31 minutes, and 7.651 seconds. It almost feels like a something a sci-fi android would say and do.The storage size of this unconscionably large number is 515 TB of 663 TB available, with a total I/O of 43.5 PB read, 38.5 PB written, and 82 PB total.Showcasing Google Cloud’s superior technologyNaturally, it takes a lot of computing power, storage, and networking finesse to make a calculation of this magnitude feasible. Google Cloud estimated the size of temporary storage needed to complete a calculation of roughly 554 TB. “The maximum persistent disk capacity that you can attach to a single virtual machine is 257 TB, which is often enough for traditional single node applications, but not in this case,” read the press release.In fact, the firm created a cluster of one computational node and 32 storage nodes — comprising a total of 64 iSCSI block storage targets. There’s much to admire about Google Cloud’s efforts in reaching a final solution for the first 100 trillion digits in the number pi. But this goes beyond the ancient Greek letter pi, and the number behind it. In finding it at this exhaustive length, the firm has proven how flexible its infrastructure is, enabling teams to push the envelope of scientific experimentation, while also showcasing how reliable its products are — what other hardware can carry out a calculation, continuously, for more than five months, and experience zero node failures? It’s a wondrous world, and we’re here for it.This was breaking news about the most digits ever calculated for pi, and was regularly updated as new information became available.HomeScienceAdd Interesting Engineering to your Google News feed.Add Interesting Engineering to your Google News feed.SHOW COMMENT (1) For You Is medical research entering a new era of fertility treatments?Is deep sea mining worth it?Researchers unlock Sweet Annie’s cancer-fighting potentialRecycling’s hidden microplastic menaceBees that are trained to detect bombsUsing quantum computing to speed up optimization problemsWhy is anti-piracy software Denuvo stirring controversy?US I.R.S. to use AI to deal with tax evasion and crimesNew lithium extraction method promises cleaner energy outputStellantis shares plans to make EV batteries 50% lighter Job Board