Synopsis:
A pair of Japanese and US computer whizzes claim to have calculated pi to five trillion decimal places — a number which if verified eclipses the previous record set by a French software engineer.
“We believe our achievement sets a new record,” Japanese system engineer Shigeru Kondo said, adding that the Frenchman’s calculation to nearly 2.7 trillion places was believed to be the previous record. …
It took 90 days to calculate pi at Kondo’s home using a desktop computer with 20 external hard disks. It ran on the operating system Windows Server 2008R2 and used powerful Intel microprocessors. Verification took 64 hours.
Kondo built the computer by himself, procuring parts from local electronics shops and via the Internet. “I don’t really want to say how much it cost me as my family may hear it… it’s about 18,000 dollars,” he told AFP by telephone. …