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→History: Hamburg
During the plague of 1665-1666, [[Isaac Newton]] was confined to the village of Woolsthorpe. There he calculated pi to 16 digits. He rightly considered such calculations to be a waste of time. “I am ashamed to tell you to how many figures I carried these computations, having no other business at the time," he wrote.<ref>Beckmann, Petr (2015-01-06). ''A History of Pi'' (Kindle Locations 2249-2250). St. Martin's Press. Kindle Edition.</ref>
During the plague of 1665-1666, [[Isaac Newton]] was confined to the village of Woolsthorpe. There he calculated pi to 16 digits. He rightly considered such calculations to be a waste of time. “I am ashamed to tell you to how many figures I carried these computations, having no other business at the time," he wrote.<ref>Beckmann, Petr (2015-01-06). ''A History of Pi'' (Kindle Locations 2249-2250). St. Martin's Press. Kindle Edition.</ref>
In 1706, John Machin developed a quickly converging formula for pi and used it to calculated the first 100 digits. In 1844, the idiot savant Johann Dase used Machin's formula to calculate an astonishing 200 digits in less than two months.<ref>Beckmann</ref> In contrast, William Shanks spent twenty years calculating pi to 707 places, a task he completed in 1873. In 1945, it was discovered that only the first 527 of Shanks's digits were correct.
In 1706, John Machin developed a quickly converging formula for pi and used it to calculated the first 100 digits. In 1844, the idiot savant Johann Dase of Hamburg used Machin's formula to calculate an astonishing 200 digits in less than two months.<ref>Beckmann</ref> In contrast, William Shanks spent twenty years calculating pi to 707 places, a task he completed in 1873. In 1945, it was discovered that only the first 527 of Shanks's digits were correct.
Electronic computers have calculated pi to trillions of digits. In 2014, the anonymous programmer Houkouonchi calculated the first 13.3 trillion digits of pi.<ref>Yee, Alexander, "[http://www.numberworld.org/y-cruncher/ y-cruncher - A Multi-Threaded Pi-Program]"</ref> The result has not been printed out.
Electronic computers have calculated pi to trillions of digits. In 2014, the anonymous programmer Houkouonchi calculated the first 13.3 trillion digits of pi.<ref>Yee, Alexander, "[http://www.numberworld.org/y-cruncher/ y-cruncher - A Multi-Threaded Pi-Program]"</ref> The result has not been printed out.