Pi is an irrational quantity, that means it has an infinite variety of nonrepeating decimal locations. Nevertheless it seems, NASA scientists want solely a small slice of pi — the primary 15 decimal locations — to unravel most of their math issues. And even when understanding issues on probably the most mind-bending cosmic scales, they by no means want quite a lot of dozen additional digits. You could keep in mind pi from college. It is the ratio between a circle’s diameter (the gap between reverse factors) and circumference (the gap across the edge). Merely put, pi is the same as the circumference of a circle divided by its diameter, which suggests you may determine the circumference of any circle if you recognize its diameter or radius (half the diameter) and pi, which is mostly abbreviated as 3.14 — which is why Pi Day is widely known on March 14. We presently know the primary 62.8 trillion digits of pi, due to a supercomputer that crunched the quantity for greater than 100 days. However after that, pi’s decimal locations are an entire thriller to us.Nonetheless, you might want to memorize solely the primary few decimals of pi for many real-world functions. And even in the event you’re a NASA scientist, you may get away with understanding simply 15, particularly in the event you’re solely learning our photo voltaic system. (With 15 decimal locations, pi seems like this: 3.141592653589793.)The explanation scientists need not hassle together with any extra digits of their calculations is that the numbers they’re utilizing, even at planetary or stellar scales, are too small for extra decimal locations to have any actual impact on the output worth, in line with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.Associated: The universe wouldn’t make sense with out mathematicsThe circumference of Earth barely modifications after 16 digits of pi. (Picture credit score: Shutterstock)Take our planet: Earth has a diameter of round 7,900 miles (12,700 kilometers), which suggests its circumference is round 24,900 miles (40,100 km). For those who have been to calculate this actual circumference with the primary 16 digits of pi (the quantity three adopted by 15 decimal locations) and a extra correct model of pi with tons of of decimal locations, the distinction between the 2 solutions could be round 300 instances lower than the width of a human hair, in line with NASA. The error will get higher the bigger the quantity you employ. However for many sensible calculations NASA scientists have to make, the distinction continues to be negligible. The Voyager 1 probe is round 15 billion miles from Earth. (Picture credit score: Shutterstock)For instance, the Voyager 1 probe, which is now in interstellar house, is presently greater than 15 billion miles (24 billion km) from Earth. For those who wished to calculate the circumference of a circle with this distance because the radius, the distinction between utilizing the primary 16 digits of pi in contrast with tons of of digits could be lower than the width of somewhat finger, in line with NASA. Nonetheless, some calculations nonetheless require extra decimal locations. For instance, in the event you wished to calculate the circumference of a circle that encapsulated the identified universe, the radius of that circle could be round 46 billion light-years — the gap mild has traveled for the reason that Large Bang when factoring within the growth of the universe. On this case, you would wish 38 decimals of pi to get a price with the identical degree of accuracy with which we will presently measure the width of an atom, in line with NASA.