Mile of Pi - Numberphile
2,240,469 Views
151 Questions Answered
Best of Web
Let’s Begin…
The team from Numberphile printed one million decimal places of Pi onto a piece of paper which stretched for over a mile. They rolled it out on a runway usually used for testing planes and cars.
The video discusses a man who memorised Pi to 67,890 digits. Imagine you know NOTHING about Pi, but have to GUESS each digit in order. Each time you get a digit wrong, you must start again from the first digit (and your memory of the previous attempt is erased). On average, how many "attempts" will it take until you correctly recite Pi to 67,890 digits, getting all of them right? Imagine throughout this process, you can speak at one digit per second. How LONG will this process take, including all the wrong attempts and then the successful one?
Sign in to answer questionAbout TED-Ed Best of Web
TED-Ed Best of Web are exceptional, user-created lessons that are carefully selected by volunteer teachers and TED-Ed staff.
Meet The Creators
- Video created by Numberphile
- Lesson Plan created by Periodic Videos