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New mathematical record: what’s the point of calculating pi?
刷新记录:计算圆周率意义何在?
Swiss researchers have spent 108 days calculating pi to a new record accuracy of 62.8tn digits. Using a computer, their approximation beat the previous world record of 50tn decimal places, and was calculated 3.5 times as quickly. It’s an impressive and time-consuming feat that begs the question: why? Pi is, of course, a mathematical constant defined as the ratio between a circle’s circumference and its diameter. The circumference of a circle, we learn at school, is 2πr, where r is the circle’s radius.
历时108天，瑞士研究人员们刷新了圆周率记录，目前已经精确计算到小数点后62.8万亿位。超级计算机以原先3.5倍的运算速度打破圆周率记录，此前创下世界纪录的圆周率计算已经达到了小数点后 50 万亿位。这项令人惊叹、耗时又长的大工程，让人们不禁要问：坚持这么做的目的是什么？当然，圆周率是一个数学常数，是圆周长和直径之比。我们在学校学过，圆周长为2πr, 其中r为圆半径。
What is it good for? Absolutely everything. Jan de Gier, a professor of mathematics and statistics at the University of Melbourne, says being able to approximate pi with some precision is important because the mathematical constant has many different practical applications. “Knowing pi to some approximation is incredibly important because it appears everywhere, from the general relativity of Einstein to corrections in your GPS to all sorts of engineering problems involving electronics,” de Gier says.
坚持计算圆周率有什么好处？绝对有各种好处。墨尔本大学(University of Melbourne)数学和统计学教授简·德·吉尔(Jan de Gier)表示，能够接近圆周率的精准值是很重要的，因为这个数学常数有许多不同的实际用途。他还说道：“确定圆周率的近似值非常重要，因为它无处不在，从爱因斯坦的广义相对论到全球定位系统的校正，包括电子产品在内的各种技术问题”。
In maths, pi pops up everywhere. “You can’t escape it,” says David Harvey, an associate professor at the University of New South Wales. Pi is also crucial to something in mathematics called Fourier transforms, says Harvey. “When you’re playing an MP3 file or watching Blu-ray media, it’s using Fourier transforms all the time to compress the data.” Fourier analysis is also used in medical imaging technology, and to break down the components of sunlight into spectral lines, de Gier says.
数学中很多东西都和圆周率有关。新南威尔士大学(University of New South Wales)副教授戴维·哈维(David Harvey)表示：“你无法忽略圆周率的存在”。他还说，圆周率对傅里叶变换在数学中的应用也很重要。“另外当你播放MP3文件或观看蓝光影片时，圆周率也一直通过傅里叶变换来压缩数据。” de Gier教授指出：傅里叶分析也被用于医学成像技术，将阳光分解成光谱图。
