Converting Pi to binary: Don't do it!

http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/21.42.html#subj5

by nickb • 19 years ago

28 10 19 years ago

catless.ncl.ac.uk

zyroth5• 19 years ago

Actually it is not guaranteed that every string of bits will at some point be a substring of pi. Bad joke, since wrong.

mojuba2• 19 years ago

Can you generate an infinite string of bits that does not contain a given finite string?

Edit: no periods in the infinite string, of course

rms2• 19 years ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_number#Properties_and_ex...

Sure... the infinite string of 1s, or the infinite string of 0s, or the infinite string of 0s and 1s that is made up of only decimal 3s and 7s. There are an uncountably many number of non-normal real numbers like this, even though the infinite amount of normal real numbers is bigger.

zyroth5• 19 years ago

Yes, I can:

01001000100001...

Guess what? There are uncountable ones.

axod• 19 years ago

Similarly, surely this could land you in big trouble:

dd if=/dev/urandom of=testfile bs=1024 count=1024

You could end up with a copyrighted mp3 file, some trade secrets, various passwords, credit card numbers, etc

And another point... "Converting PI to binary"

What?? What base is PI in to start with? Surely the title should be "Calculating PI and storing as binary" or similar.

Converting Pi to binary: Don't do it!

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