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I have read that it is possible to determine the value of a single digit, say the 874th of $\pi$. I know that it is a trascentental number, how is that possible?

How many ways are there to determine the value of $\pi$? What is the simplest?

hmakholm left over Monica
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    Google the Bailey-Borwein-Plouffe formula, which calculates the nth binary digit of pi. – zz20s Apr 01 '16 at 16:03
  • Also related: http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1189820/calculating-pi-manually – Hans Lundmark Apr 01 '16 at 16:06
  • And this: http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/297/simple-numerical-methods-for-calculating-the-digits-of-pi – Hans Lundmark Apr 01 '16 at 16:07
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    @HansLundmark: Not really; many answers to the earlier question are about the asker's wrong premise that "there is no way to actually find out the digits of $\pi$". – hmakholm left over Monica Apr 01 '16 at 16:08
  • Or here: http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/147296/how-do-you-calculate-the-decimal-expansion-of-an-irrational-number – Hans Lundmark Apr 01 '16 at 16:09
  • @HenningMakholm: Well, pick another one then... There are plenty of answers already explaining how to compute pi. – Hans Lundmark Apr 01 '16 at 16:10
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bailey%E2%80%93Borwein%E2%80%93Plouffe_formula –  Apr 01 '16 at 16:31
  • @HansLundmark None of the questions that you link address the key issue here - namely, how do you compute some particular digit of $\pi$ without computing all the previous digits of $\pi$. There are several questions (like this one) obtained by searching the site for spigot algorithm for pi that do address that issue. – Mark McClure Apr 01 '16 at 16:55
  • @MarkMcClure: Well, no, because that was already answered by the first comment... But never mind, I'm not going to waste any more time arguing about this. – Hans Lundmark Apr 01 '16 at 17:36

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