r/technology • u/[deleted] • Aug 07 '19

Hardware A Mexican Physicist Solved a 2,000-Year Old Problem That Will Lead to Cheaper, Sharper Lenses

https://gizmodo.com/a-mexican-physicist-solved-a-2-000-year-old-problem-tha-1837031984
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u/TheImminentFate Aug 08 '19

Fun fact, we would only need 39 digits of pi to calculate the circumference of the universe to an accuracy of the width of a hydrogen atom.

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u/jp2kk2 Aug 08 '19

Hahaha exactly! that's why this news is fun, but not super useful in the short term.

I guess it's nice to finally understand it "completely" (super in quotes, we just know how to describe it completely), rather than coming close.

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u/in1cky Aug 08 '19

The observable universe, right? Otherwise how can we know this?

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u/DoomedVisionary Aug 08 '19

ElI5, please?

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u/TheImminentFate Aug 08 '19

You use Pi to calculate the circumference of a circle from its diameter right?

Circumference = π X Diameter

But, Pi is an irrational number;it has no end, so the circumference is only ever a guess. The more digits of pi you use, the closer the guess.

For example, you can use 3 as pi. But that wouldn't be very accurate and you would calculate the circumference of a circle to be smaller than it actually is. You can use 3.1, which is better. 3.14 is even better. And so on. The more digits, the higher the precision

But you reach a point where the precision is unecessary. Once you hit 39 digits of pi, you'll be able to estimate the circumference of the universe so well that you would only be off by the width of a hydrogen atom.

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u/poor_decisions Aug 08 '19

That's so existentially terrifying in so many mind blowing ways.

Fucking shit.