Problem 953. Pi Estimate 1

please update the link to the document, cant find it anymore

The link is broken, but you can solve this problem with the Leibniz formula for π.

The principle is described here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leibniz_formula_for_%CF%80

@Jordan Wilkerson change the number format and round to significant digits shown in test code

@Paul Derwin
Oh right, duh. I should've thought of that haha. That worked! I deleted my last comment since it basically was a solution after all. Thanks for your help!

Leibniz formula, precision 1e-6.

please update the link.

The description has been updated per the link provided in a prior comment.

function [estimate] = pi_est1(nMax)
estimate=0;
for i=1:(nMax-1)
m=2*i+1;
if mod(i,2)~=0
estimate=(1/m)+estimate;
else
estimate=-(1/m)+estimate;
end
end

estimate=(1-estimate)*4;
estimate=round(estimate,6);
end

I believe the task statement should be modified by specifying that the estimate should be rounded. Otherwise, the test suite can be edited accordingly.

The problem description has been updated to specify that rounding is required.

What an idiotic checking algorithm. I spent 10 minutes just trying to get the software to think I had solved the problem when I had already gotten it right multiple times earlier. Make sure you officially round, and not just print it with digits (which is smarter because the variable retains all of its significant digits), otherwise you'll find your time wasted like mine was.
And, all for 10 points. How stupid. Make a better checking algorithm or at least give us more points for having to put up with this BS

good

good

I'll have to say that the checking algorithm is very poorly written. Using isequal instead of an absolute difference with a permitted tolerance check is straight out flawed for me. And after repeating the calculations with both Python and MATLAB. I get an estimate of 3.2323.. for a series of 10 elements (nMax = 10). I wonder how the problem setters arrived at an estimate of 3.04... something. I can't remember the exact value that was used for that test.

So in running this summation through my ti-nspire for 10 iterations, I get an estimate of 3.232323... However, test 1 asserts that this should actually be 3.041840. The code I wrote also returns 3.232323, because it uses the Leibniz formula to estimate pi using the specified number of iterations "nMax". Either I am completely missing something or the author is unaware of what values a correct solution should actually be returning.