what was the value of your first initial before the electronic age?

The most accurate approximation of π before electronic computers came into use:

3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679821480865132823066470938446095505822317253594081284811174502841027019385211055596446229489549303819644288109756659334461284756482337867831652712019091456485669234603486104543266482133936072602491412737245870066063155881748815209209628292540917153643678925903600113305305488204665213841469519415116094330572703657595919530921861173819326117931051185480744623799627495673518857527248912279381830119491298336733624406566430860213949463952247371907021798609437027705392171762931767523846748184676694051320005681271452635608277857713427577896091736371787214684409012249534301465495853710507922796892589235420199561121290219608640344181598136297747713099605187072113499999983729780499510597317328160963185950244594553469083026425223082533446850352619311881710100031378387528865875332083814206171776691473035982534904287554687311595628638823537875937519577818577805321712268066130019278766111959092164201989380952572010654858632788659361533818279682303019520353018529689957736225994138912497217752834791315155748572424541506959

Correct to 1,120 digits, this estimation was obtained using a gear-driven calculator (something like the Madas 20BZS, to the right) in 1948 by Levi B. Smith and John Wrench.


The American team used the following formula to make their calculations:

it would have taken months and millions of iterations...

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An Important Note: In order to calculate the circumference of a circle the size of the observable Universe, with an error no more than the diameter of an atom of hydrogen, you need use only the first 39 digits of Π

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Doesn't this fact make the most recent and precise calculation to date, of 5 TRILLION decimal places, then seem a little unnecessary and a huge waste of time and resources? What do the scientists and mathematicians performing these calculations think of the exercise??

[[ Shigeru Kondo, the Japanese man behind this monumental calculation, which took 90 days to process on a computer he built for a reported sum of $18,000, said of the milestone at midnight when the computer struck 5 trillion decimal places,

"I was alone in the room at the moment... I know this is nothing but self satisfaction."
]]

{ From Todd's living room. Market St, San Francisco, CA, USA }