Nth digit of PI

[Clive Tooth]

Russell Wallace wrote in message <394889C3.1ED5 at esatclear.ie>...

>Robert Israel wrote:
>> Plouffe has another algorithm that can find a digit in an arbitrary
>> base.  This takes C*n^3*log(n)^3 time for the n'th digit, so it is not
>> faster than other methods that would compute the first n digits, but it
>> does take very little memory.
>
>Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought memory was the limiting factor?
>i.e. that a good algorithm on typical hardware can fill all the
>available memory with digits of pi in a few days or so?

You are wrong. The discussion was about methods of calculating digit N of pi
(in some base) without computing digits 1 thru N-1 . This can be done in
about O(log(N)) bits of memory.

--
Clive Tooth
http://www.pisquaredoversix.force9.co.uk/
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