More Fun with Pi
Since its first documented appearance about four millennia ago, the number pi has become not just an oft-encountered constant in mathematics and physics but a cultural phenomenon, with numerous appearances in books, artworks, TV shows, and films. In this talk we will present a carefully curated selection of serious and recreational algorithms related to pi. Among our topics will be: elegant formulas for pi, the current state-of-the-art algorithm for computing many digits, computing pi with very small programs, clever approximations for pi, and a deep dive into Pilish: a constrained dialect of English in which the number of letters in successive words matches the digits of pi.
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- 79 William St.
- Princeton University
- Princeton, New Jersey
- United States 08544
- Building: Friend Center
- Room Number: Room 004 (lower level)
Speakers
Michael Keith
More Fun With Pi
Biography:
Michael Keith is a retired software engineer who was employed at Bell Labs, the David Sarnoff Research Center, Intel, and a small startup (Ambric), focusing primarily on computer graphics and audio/video compression algorithms. His abiding interest in the number pi started with Martin Gardner's column in the July 1960 Scientific American and grew over the years to include many facets of this fascinating number, such as those that will be discussed in this presentation. Mike's 2010 book of stories and poems, Not a Wake, is the only book ever published written entirely in Pilish. Mike also hosts a webpage (http://www.cadaeic.net) with links to many useful facts and resources about pi.