Nth digit of PI

[Harald Hanche-Olsen]

+ Rajarshi Ray <rajarshi at home.com>:

| Besides the gee-whiz aspect of such algorithms, do they have any
| value?

They appear to have considerable entertainment value.  And, for some
reason I could never fathom, every new supercomputer ever made is
supposed to crank out ever more digits of pi to prove their worth.

| After all, what makes pi pi is ALL of its digits in a particular
| sequence.

Nah.  Digits don't have anything to do with it.  What makes pi pi is
its definition, whatever your favourite definition might be.  For
example, the smallest positive x so that sum((-1)^n x^(2n+1)/(2n+1)!)
[summed from n=0 to infinity] is zero.  Digits be damned!

How-I-want-a-drink--alcoholic-of-course--after-the-heavy-chapters-
involving-quantum-mechanics-ly y'rs,
-- 
* Harald Hanche-Olsen     <URL:http://www.math.ntnu.no/~hanche/>
- "There arises from a bad and unapt formation of words
   a wonderful obstruction to the mind."  - Francis Bacon