Simon Plouffe is a Quebec mathematician born on June 11, 1956 in Saint-Jovite, Quebec. He discovered the formula for the BBP algorithm (the Bailey–Borwein–Plouffe formula) which permits the computation of the nth binary digit of π, in 1995. Plouffe is also the co-author of the Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences, made into the web site (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, which stood until 1977.
Plouffe discovered an algorithm for the computation of π in any base in 1996. He has expressed regret for having shared credit for his discovery of this formula with Bailey and Borwein.
Plouffe's Inverter is a web site that contains 215 million mathematical constants as of June 3, 2012.
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“Given for one instant an intelligence which could comprehend all the forces by which nature is animated and the respective positions of the beings which compose it, if moreover this intelligence were vast enough to submit these data to analysis, it would embrace in the same formula both the movements of the largest bodies in the universe and those of the lightest atom; to it nothing would be uncertain, and the future as the past would be present to its eyes.”
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