Nth digit of PI

[Russell Wallace]

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?

> This one has "a more theoretical rather
> than practical interest".

Well, anything beyond the first 10-20 digits of pi is of purely
theoretical interest :)

-- 
"To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem."
Russell Wallace
mailto:rwallace at esatclear.ie
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