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Original poster

World pi record smashed by female mathematician with help of google

163 replies

BiologyIsReal · 14/03/2019 10:59

www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-47524760

As a maths naive I'm a) not sure how much more useful it is to have 31 trillion digits as opposed to 22 trillion digits but b) well impressed.

OP posts:
picklemepopcorn · 15/03/2019 11:54

Regardless of any of that, it's clearly a huge achievement which is so far above my ability to appreciate that I'm not go8ng to try to understand it.

SlinkyDinkyDoo · 15/03/2019 11:54

eccles or anyone. I don't even understand the basics! In my ignorance I'm thinking oh ok she's written a bit of code that says divide this by this and keep going. Erm doesn't that bit of code already exist? I'm not try to be obtuse, I would like to share in the celebration.

EcclesThePeacock · 15/03/2019 11:57

Not obvious in the video in the link upthread - where she's actually talking.

I'd rather there wasn't this sort of speculation ... I'm sure you no-one intended this but the thread icomes over rather as 'woman does something technologically great ... ooh, can she really be a woman, and is it actually that great'.Hmm

brizzlemint · 15/03/2019 11:59

Emma used an app called something like y-cruncher which ran on 25 of google's computers. Anybody could have done it with that computing facility.

EcclesThePeacock · 15/03/2019 12:04

Slinky - well, you could start here

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi

... it gets beyond me and I write scientific software.

Normal computer code represents non integral numbers to a precision far less than we're talking about here. Doing the calculations on massive numbers of digits, accurately storing all those digits .... it has to be a completely different ballgame to what you may be imagining.

Funkaccino · 15/03/2019 12:05

'woman does something technologically great ... ooh, can she really be a woman, and is it actually that great

In fairness, even the OP said she wasn't sure of the relevance of figuring out PI to the bajillion. It's a bit anorak-y at best Grin not to say it isn't an achievement just the sort most won't see the point of.

SlinkyDinkyDoo · 15/03/2019 12:08

Ok thanks eccles clearly asking a computer to divide X by Y is far more complicated than I imagined. I thought it was the same process as a calculator just with bigger storage facility. Guess not.

EcclesThePeacock · 15/03/2019 12:14

I thought the video interview showed the point of it - not the value of pi itself, but as a cool stress test of the hardware and software. The stuff about swapping the VMs etc.

Cloven · 15/03/2019 12:16

popcorn I think she's an actual woman but I know what you mean. It's happened to me more than once that i hear about a woman with amazing math/tech accomplishments and feel inspired and then feel very uninspired a few short minutes later when I find out more about "her."

It SUCKS I have to say. Transwomen are VASTLY overrepresented in tech - something about the culture, plus the autism comorbidity. And they do not face any institutional barriers - maybe after they come out, but tech TW are invariably the late transitioning kind and got to adulthood with male privilege and male socialisation. It's the exact opposite of inspiring to see their accomplishments celebrated as female accomplishments.

Cloven · 15/03/2019 12:19

and yikes I realised i just derailed this thread which is about an actual female accomplishment and should be inspiring not moany. Sorry! I'll moan about this another time, I love women who go all in on nerdiness so this accomplishment makes me happy.

Funkaccino · 15/03/2019 12:21

It SUCKS I have to say. Transwomen are VASTLY overrepresented in tech - something about the culture, plus the autism comorbidity. And they do not face any institutional barriers - maybe after they come out, but tech TW are invariably the late transitioning kind and got to adulthood with male privilege and male socialisation. It's the exact opposite of inspiring to see their accomplishments celebrated as female accomplishments.

yes, also my concern is that if they haven't had female socialisation and the crap that comes with a girl trying to get around in those feields, and excelling despite those barriers...

what exactly are you celebrating? The woke are celebrating a person with a "lady brain" being able to do tech/maths/science. Like that's the impressive bit. They might as well give women an award that says "not as stupid as the rest".

eddiemairswife · 15/03/2019 12:21

Couldn't anyone do it with pencil and paper? Just divide 22 by 7 and keep going.

Funkaccino · 15/03/2019 12:24

Couldn't anyone do it with pencil and paper? Just divide 22 by 7 and keep going.

a trillion seconds would amount to no less than 31,709.8 years

So I don't think anyone would have the time!

TheFallenMadonna · 15/03/2019 12:25

22/7 is only an approximation of pi. Pi is an irrational number. You can't write it like that.

EcclesThePeacock · 15/03/2019 12:26

what exactly are you celebrating? The woke are celebrating a person with a "lady brain" being able to do tech/maths/science. Like that's the impressive bit. They might as well give women an award that says "not as stupid as the rest".

How about, celebrating a woman who hasn't been stymied by gender stereotypes, unlike so many others?

steppemum · 15/03/2019 12:31

bloody hell, this thread has made me cross.

There is no evidence she is trans, other than your own short sighted prejudice about ehr looks.

My dd, the one up thread who learnt pi to 100 decimal places, is gay and is mistaken for a boy every day due to her style.
If she goes on to do somethign amazing in tech, will you all have a thread wondering if she is trans.

CELEBRATE the fact a women is making headlines for this, please.
You have all derailed a good thread and I am cross.

My same dd learnt all the elements in the periodic table last year, for fun, I am celebrating a girl who loves science and maths.
Actually dd2 does as well.

Lets encourage them shall we.

(or we could just shoot ourselves in the foot and moan about trans women instead of celebrating the actual women doing stuff)

steppemum · 15/03/2019 12:34

and I will be sending my dd a link to the article on this woman, so she has a role model in the tech industry doing something she would relate to.
That is why the headline matters

Funkaccino · 15/03/2019 12:34

There is no evidence she is trans, other than your own short sighted prejudice about ehr looks. My dd, the one up thread who learnt pi to 100 decimal places, is gay and is mistaken for a boy every day due to her style.

No one is discussing her fashion sense, or her hair cut or anything else. Just the adam's apple. Your daughter's sexuality is also not relevant to her dress sense. Clothes don't make gender or sexuality.

steppemum · 15/03/2019 12:38

you ARE discussing her looks!

she has a prominant adams apple, that is part of her looks! Maybe she feels self conscious about it! No - just go ahead and delare her male.

That is really similar to saying she is tall for a woman, or has too broad shoulders, or .....

don;t be disingeneous and say - Oh its okay to diss her because we wondered if she was male Hmm

EcclesThePeacock · 15/03/2019 12:38

Oh ffs.

I'm becoming increasingly glad that my DD, a budding engineer, is short and curvy and will only have good old-fashioned sexism to deal with.Hmm

Funkaccino · 15/03/2019 12:47

she has a prominant adams apple, that is part of her looks! Maybe she feels self conscious about it! No - just go ahead and delare her male.That is really similar to saying she is tall for a woman, or has too broad shoulders, or .....

No, not really similar at all.

steppemum · 15/03/2019 12:48

Your daughter's sexuality is also not relevant to her dress sense. Clothes don't make gender or sexuality.

except that for a certain group of butch lesbian women they sort of do link very closely. That exact group of women who are getting such a hard time in the current trans atmosphere, that group who are talked about on all the feminist boards.....

TheFallenMadonna · 15/03/2019 12:49

Emma Haruka Iwao does not seem to be making a big deal about being a woman. The OP made however sees it as a big deal. Which apparently means her Adam's apple is fair game Hmm

OvaHere · 15/03/2019 12:50

Sorry, it's pretty obvious from the various photos and the write up Pink News did. Body shape, jawline, adams apple and one photo where it's clear what side they 'dress on'.

I did notice early on yesterday when the article was first posted but refrained from commenting back then because recording breaking Pi is fairly innocuous and there are bigger issues than this one particular individual.

It does however feed into the constant rewriting of female history and it's jarring to be told your eyes deceive you all the time. I don't see how that is inspiring for young girls.

steppemum · 15/03/2019 12:51

Funkaccino - you started this. It was your post that said - Oh maybe she is trans.
You derailed a thread about a woman's achievment in the tech world with your own prejudice, and preconception, and you are still going, post after post, saying on the one hand Oh maybe she isn't, and on the other hand - Oh but look at that adam's apple.

I wonder - do you have a problem with successful women yourself? Do ou struggggle with the idea we should be celebrating her achievement? because your posts certainly suggest that you do.

Heaven forbid that we could have athread about women that isn't about trans.

well done