...We are fascinated by the fact that we can actually know what those digits (of pi) are. Computer designers and operators have used this calculation to demonstrate the speed and capability of their machines. Newton once entertained himself during a solitary episode by calculating pi to a number of decimal places that he was too embarrassed to admit. A brief history: Pi is a very old number. We know that the Egyptians and the Babylonians knew about the existence of the constant ratio pi, although they didn't know its value nearly as well as we do today. Both had figured out that pi was a...