Team accomplishes precise measurements of the heaviest atoms

An international research team has successfully conducted ultra-precise X-ray spectroscopic measurements of helium-like uranium. The team, which includes researchers from Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the Helmholtz ...

How a farm boy from Wales gave the world pi

One of the most important numbers in maths might today be named after the Greek letter π or "pi", but the convention of representing it this way actually doesn't come from Greece at all. It comes from the pen of an 18th ...

Pi might look random but it's full of hidden patterns

After thousands of years of trying, mathematicians are still working out the number known as pi or "π". We typically think of pi as approximately 3.14 but the most successful attempt to calculate it more precisely worked ...

A dozen ways to avoid that $617bn 'fat finger' moment

Have you ever ordered too many items online – say, buying 20 courgettes when you meant two? Then you might feel a little sorry for the anonymous broker in Japan who lost US$617 billion to a trading typo error.

Pi calculation smashes records

(PhysOrg.com) -- A computer scientist in France has broken all previous records for calculating Pi, using only a personal computer. The previous record was approximately 2.6 trillion digits, but the new record, set by Fabrice ...