Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 28, 2026

Simon Plouffe

Simon Plouffe is a Canadian mathematician who discovered the Bailey–Borwein–Plouffe formula which permits the computation of the nth binary digit of π, in 1995. His other 2022 formula allows extracting the nth digit of π in decimal. He was born in Saint-Jovite, Quebec.

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Simon Plouffe (born June 11, 1956) is a Canadian mathematician who discovered the Bailey–Borwein–Plouffe formula (BBP algorithm) which permits the computation of the nth binary digit of π, in 1995.123 His other 2022 formula allows extracting the nth digit of π in decimal.4 He was born in Saint-Jovite, Quebec.

He co-authored The Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences, made into the website On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences dedicated to integer sequences later in 1995. In 1975, Plouffe broke the world record for memorizing digits of π by reciting 4096 digits, a record which stood until 1977.5

See also

See also

Notes

Notes

  1. Works by Simon Plouffe at Project Gutenberg; accessed March 23, 2015.
  2. BBP algorithm, arxiv.org; accessed March 23, 2015.
  3. "The story behind a formula for Pi". groups.google.com. Retrieved 2023-12-06.
  4. Weisstein, Eric W. "Digit-Extraction Algorithm". MathWorld. (referencing arXiv:2201.12601)
  5. David H. Bailey. (September 8, 2006), The BBP Algorithm for Pi (PDF), retrieved March 23, 2015
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