  We consider an arbitrary Gaussian Stationary Process X(T) with known
correlator C(T), sampled at discrete times T_n = n \Delta T. The probability
that (n+1) consecutive values of X have the same sign decays as P_n \sim
\exp(-\theta_D T_n). We calculate the discrete persistence exponent \theta_D as
a series expansion in the correlator C(\Delta T) up to 14th order, and
extrapolate to \Delta T = 0 using constrained Pad\'e approximants to obtain the
continuum persistence exponent \theta. For the diffusion equation our results
are in exceptionally good agreement with recent numerical estimates.
