Researchers based at the University of Applied Sciences of Graubünden in Switzerland claim to have returned a Pi calculation world record from previous holders in the USA. Specifically, the university's Centre for Data Analytics, Visualization and Simulation (DAViS) calculated Pi to 62.8 trillion figures using its supercomputer facilities. The record is back in Swiss hands after being awarded to American organisations twice over recent years.
The DAViS result is claimed to be "almost twice as fast as the record Google set using its cloud in 2019, and 3.5 times as fast as the previous world record in 2020". Prof. Dr. Heiko Rölke, head of DAViS, said that preparing for the record attempt has been valuable in optimising computer processes making researchers aware of weak points in the infrastructure, and preparing them for future power-intensive data and computing tasks. Research partners will also benefit from the experience in their data analytics and simulations problems in the fields of RNA analysis, flow simulations and text analysis.
At the time of writing, DAViS has yet to certify its feat. It says it is waiting for the Guinness Book of Records to check its data. For now, it has only revealed that the final 10 digits of the pi calculation it has made are: 7817924264.
As a reminder, Pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. It is an 'irrational number', probably the most famous one alongside the golden ratio and Euler's number, but can be roughly approximated by a fraction 22/7.
At HEXUS we continue to test CPUs using our own PiFast benchmark tool. You can see in our most recent processor review, that the AMD Ryzen 7 5700G managed to calculate Pi to 10 million places in 17.46 seconds. How long would it take AMD's newest APU to calculate Pi to 62.8 trillion figures at that rate?
