Calculate pi trillion digits3/9/2023 “There were a couple of parametres I did tweak at the beginning, like how much data you could read or write at one time, and how the boundaries would change as it got bigger,” says Iwao.Īs the calculations became increasingly complex, the greater the strain it was on the virtual machines, and the more time it took. That data is then copied and saved externally, on other discs, as snapshots. “Y-cruncher, and Google Cloud, both have these methods of making copies – so it’s like photocopying at certain points, and I set it up so that you can take copies of these disks instantly without stopping the calculation,” says Iwao. Just one crash – even for a couple of minutes – could have jeopardised the whole process. In this case, you need a lot of storage.” She also set up a monitoring system, which would alert her if something had gone wrong – for example, if one of her virtual machines had suddenly crashed. “So, with pen and paper, you need a lot of sheets of paper. “You can’t take a nap and then start over when you’re doing it by hand, so you have to store all the data necessary to do the math,” says Iwao. Just like a calculation by hand, or on a whiteboard, every step had to be clearly visible, something which would only be possible if the cloud kept the program continuously running. This was breaking news about the most digits ever calculated for pi, and was regularly updated as new information became available.In order to make sure nothing went wrong, the virtual machines had to be running constantly. In finding it at this exhaustive length, the firm has proven how flexible its infrastructure is, enabling teams to push the envelope of scientific experimentation, while also showcasing how reliable its products are - what other hardware can carry out a calculation, continuously, for more than five months, and experience zero node failures? It's a wondrous world, and we're here for it. But this goes beyond the ancient Greek letter pi, and the number behind it. There's much to admire about Google Cloud's efforts in reaching a final solution for the first 100 trillion digits in the number pi. In fact, the firm created a cluster of one computational node and 32 storage nodes - comprising a total of 64 iSCSI block storage targets. "The maximum persistent disk capacity that you can attach to a single virtual machine is 257 TB, which is often enough for traditional single node applications, but not in this case," read the press release. Google Cloud estimated the size of temporary storage needed to complete a calculation of roughly 554 TB. Naturally, it takes a lot of computing power, storage, and networking finesse to make a calculation of this magnitude feasible. Showcasing Google Cloud's superior technology The storage size of this unconscionably large number is 515 TB of 663 TB available, with a total I/O of 43.5 PB read, 38.5 PB written, and 82 PB total. It almost feels like a something a sci-fi android would say and do. That's 157 days, 23 hours, 31 minutes, and 7.651 seconds. The calculation itself began on Thursday, October 14, at 12:45 AM EDT in 2021, and ended on Monday, March 21, at 12:16 AM EDT, in 2022. The computing node involved is an n2-highmem-128 with 128 vCPUs and an 864-GB RAM. The algorithm employed is called the Chudnovsky algorithm. The program that executed the calculation of 100 trillion digits of pi is called y-cruncher v0.7.8, by Alexander J. Get more updates on this story and more with The Blueprint, our daily newsletter: Sign up here for free. "The underlying technology that made this possible is Compute Engine, Google Cloud's secure and customizable compute service, and its several recent additions and improvements: the Compute Engine N2 machine family, 100 Gbps egress bandwidth, Google Virtual NIC, and balanced Persistent Disks." "This achievement is a testament to how much faster Google Cloud infrastructure gets, year in, year out," read the press release from Google Cloud. And the number of digits of pi calculated has tripled in only three years. This marks the second time Google Cloud has set a record for the number of digits of the mathematical constant. How Google Cloud calculated pi to 100 trillion digits But now, Google Cloud has shattered the latest record, calculating pi out to an unprecedented 100 trillion digits, according to a press release.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |