----- Original Message ----- From: asimovd@aol.com I am very, very fond of pi, but I don't think I've ever been particularly excited about the calculation of huge numbers of its digits. Suppose someone finally found some kind of pattern in the digits -- would that be so very surprising? (OK, I admit that if the pattern were a message from another inhabited planet, *that* would be something to write home about!) But I suspect I'm missing something. Can someone try to explain to me what's the big deal about more and more digits of pi, other than getting into Guinness? In my opinion finding a pattern in pi's digits would be jaw-droppingly revolutionary. But if the digits were a message from "god" or little green aliens, that would be even more than revolutionary, that would be impossible. From a practical POV I think pi digits are used to check out computers but I would not have guessed it would be worth 5 years of design time. Anyone: Why did they do this? Steve Gray