The Feynman Point – Random Thoughts from a Nonlinear Mind

The Feynman Point

Richard Feynman was unusually intelligent. He earned a Nobel Prize in physics. He was one of those people who had a VIP pass to look at The Book virtually whenever he wanted. There are a bunch of biographies and autobiographies out there about him. It wouldn’t be a waste of time to pick them up and read them.

This short post is about a little known aspect of $\large \pi$ . There is a particular sequence in $\large \pi$ that starts at what has been named The Feynman Point. The Feynman Point starts at decimal digit 762 and runs for six consecutive 9’s before it takes off, once again, on its random journey. How cool is that?

…2113499999983729…

That is not the only instance of consecutive digits, either. One of the most interesting sequences starts at decimal digit 1,699,927. You are not going to believe what happens at that point. There are six consecutive zeroes before it takes off again. I find that genuinely extraordinary.

…5105800000059277…

Wait, there is more. How about 8 consecutive zeroes?

Starting at decimal digit 172,330,850 we get the first zero in this sequence:

…655810000000012202…

So, this brings up a question. Since $\large \pi$ is infinite, does that mean that, at some point in the sequence, we will get 1,000,000 zeroes in a row? How about 10,000,000? Furthermore, does $\large \pi$ contain every known, or possible, number string? Will my DNA sequence show up at some point? How about my Social Security number, that sequence is obviously a lot shorter. I did check, and my Social Security number does not appear in the first 200,000,000 digits. Neither does my phone number with area code.

The answer to the question I posed is unknown. Mathematicians do not yet know if the universe lies within $\large \pi$ . I don’t know what to think, the universe is a vast place but infinity is an awfully long “time.”

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