Pi Challenge




There are many pages about Pi on the Web. Lots of stories, lots of history, lots of discussions, lots of math. I have five challenges for you. You can solve these challenges any way you want as long as you follow the rules below. Extra credit goes to the first five people to solve a Pi Challenge.

Rules for Computer Science students:

  • Write a Java program to solve one of the 5 challenges.
  • Write an essay (3/4 page) about how you went about solving the problem. How how long did it take you?
  • Your writeup matters to me. Be descriptive about your thought process.
  • You may only solve one challenge.

Rules for Algebra students:

  • Solve one of the 5 challenges.
  • Document everything you do to solve the problem, including the total time you spent working on it.
  • Write me a clear and throurough "essay" about how you went about solving the problem.
  • Your writeup matters to me. Be descriptive about your thought process.
Note: The first digit of Pi is 3, second digit is 1, third is 4, etc.

The Challenges:

    Challenge 1:   Find the 50th digit of pi
    Challenge 2:   Find the 1 millionth digit of pi
    Challenge 3:   Find the 400000th through the 400005th digits
    Challenge 4:   Find the 758353rd through the 758363rd digits
    Challenge 5:   Find out where "744784" is. For example, is it the 500th to 505th digits?

The Results:

Challenge Points Algebra    Computer Science   
#1 2 *unsolved* *unsolved*
#2 3 *unsolved* *unsolved*
#3 4 *unsolved* *unsolved*
#4 5 *unsolved* *unsolved*
#5 5 *unsolved* *unsolved*

Notes: I generated Pi using Aptest. It can compute Pi to billions of decimal places! If you use it, be forewarned that it does not always generate the number of digits you asked for. You'll probably have to do some counting or use additional resources. If you have trouble getting hold of Pi digits, I can let you download my Pi file.
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