Might it be possible for mathematicians to find the last decimal point of pi?

Answer 1

Strictly speaking, the number has only one decimal point. It's the point after the 3 in 3.14159... :-)

If you're asking about the last decimal place, there's no such thing. It has been proven that pi's decimals go on to infinity. Talking about mathematicians "finding the last decimal place in pi" is like talking about mathematicians finding "the highest possible number". No matter what you give as your answer, there's another one further along.

Answer 2

The answer depending on what you mean by that, is either "no" or "maybe, but don't hold your breath waiting for it to happen".

Pi is a kind of number known as a transcendental number. It has no last decimal point, nor do its digits repeat (it's irrational) and, in fact, it isn't even a root of any polynomial equation. So, in what sense can we squeeze a maybe out of this?

A recurring pipe dream is that somebody will find a nonrecursive formula for the n-th place of pi, so even though you wouldn't have a last digit, you'd have all of the digits. Such pipe dreams are sometimes offered as rationalizations for the otherwise pointless activity of running a mainframe for hours to compute even more digits. Figure that within the first few dozen places, one already has enough accuracy to computer the circumference of a circle with a diameter equal to that of the visible universe, with an error less than the width of a hydrogen atom in its ground state. The printouts don't exactly make exciting reading, there is no conceivable practical use for the information, so the question "why do this" presents itself somewhere around digit 1000. "Let's see if we can find some cool formula or pattern describing this semi-random mess" becomes a tidy rationalization for something that is probably nothing more than an excuse to publish and pad one's curriculm vitae, a rationalization that surprisingly many people will buy.

However, some billions of computed places later, nobody seems to have even seen an interesting pattern to the digits, yet, so a lot of collective frustrating experience suggests that this is not a likely area for success; such a formula is not likely to be found for the foreseeable future, if indeed ever. Such suggestions can be wrong, and finding that one of them is can land one in the history books, but for every one person with a breakthrough like that, there is a horde of seekers spending their lives banging their heads against a wall, and a smaller horde of tenure seekers who know that in administrative matters, sometimes quantity trumps quality. "Why should I get tenure? Look at how much I've cranked out! Now please give me $100,000/year and a 10 hour work week for life" or something like that.

Sometimes even pointless efforts have a point. :)

Answer 3

Nope. Pi goes on forever and ever and ever and ... well, you get the point. It's an infinite decimal... no last decimal place.

Answer 4

Might it be possible to travel to the end of the universe and end up back where you started? Yes... but highly unlikely.

Answer 5

It goes on for eternity