Pi

The number π (/paɪ/; spelled out as "pi") is a mathematical constant that is the ratio of a circle's circumference
to its diameter, approximately equal to 3.14159. The number π appears in many formulae across mathematics
and physics. It is an irrational number, meaning that it cannot be expressed exactly as a ratio of two integers,
although fractions such as are commonly used to approximate it. Consequently, its decimal representation
never ends, nor enters a permanently repeating pattern. It is a transcendental number, meaning that it cannot
be a solution of an equation involving only sums, products, powers, and integers. The transcendence of π
implies that it is impossible to solve the ancient challenge of squaring the circle with a compass and
straightedge. The decimal digits of π appear to be randomly distributed,[a] but no proof of this conjecture has
been found.

For thousands of years, mathematicians have attempted to extend their understanding of π, sometimes by
computing its value to a high degree of accuracy. Ancient civilizations, including the Egyptians and
Babylonians, required fairly accurate approximations of π for practical computations. Around 250  BC, the
Greek mathematician Archimedes created an algorithm to approximate π with arbitrary accuracy. In the 5th
century AD, Chinese mathematicians approximated π to seven digits, while Indian mathematicians made a five-
digit approximation, both using geometrical techniques. The first computational formula for π, based on infinite
series, was discovered a millennium later.[1][2] The earliest known use of the Greek letter π to represent the
ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter was by the Welsh mathematician William Jones in 1706.[3]

The invention of calculus soon led to the calculation of hundreds of digits of π, enough for all practical scientific
computations. Nevertheless, in the 20th and 21st centuries, mathematicians and computer scientists have
pursued new approaches that, when combined with increasing computational power, extended the decimal
representation of π to many trillions of digits.[4][5] These computations are motivated by the development of
efficient algorithms to calculate numeric series, as well as the human quest to break records.[6][7] The extensive
computations involved have also been used to test supercomputers.

Because its definition relates to the circle, π is found in many formulae in trigonometry and geometry, especially
those concerning circles, ellipses and spheres. It is also found in formulae from other topics in science, such as
cosmology, fractals, thermodynamics, mechanics, and electromagnetism. In modern mathematical analysis, it is
often instead defined without any reference to geometry; therefore, it also appears in areas having little to do
with geometry, such as number theory and statistics. The ubiquity of π makes it one of the most widely known
mathematical constants inside and outside of science. Several books devoted to π have been published, and
record-setting calculations of the digits of π often result in news headlines.

Fundamentals

Name
The symbol used by mathematicians to represent the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter is the
lowercase Greek letter π, sometimes spelled out as pi.[8] In English, π is pronounced as "pie" (/paɪ/ PY).[9] In
mathematical use, the lowercase letter π is distinguished from its capitalized and enlarged counterpart Π, which
denotes a product of a sequence, analogous to how Σ denotes summation.

The choice of the symbol π is discussed in the section Adoption of the symbol π.

Definition
:
π is commonly defined as the ratio of a circle's circumference C to its
diameter d:[10]

The ratio is constant, regardless of the circle's size. For example, if a circle
has twice the diameter of another circle, it will also have twice the
circumference, preserving the ratio . This definition of π implicitly makes
use of flat (Euclidean) geometry; although the notion of a circle can be The circumference of a circle is
extended to any curve (non-Euclidean) geometry, these new circles will no slightly more than three times
longer satisfy the formula .[10] as long as its diameter. The
exact ratio is called π.
Here, the circumference of a circle is the arc length around the perimeter of
the circle, a quantity which can be formally defined independently of
geometry using limits—a concept in calculus.[11] For example, one may directly compute the arc length of the
top half of the unit circle, given in Cartesian coordinates by the equation , as the integral:[12]

An integral such as this was adopted as the definition of π by Karl Weierstrass, who defined it directly as an
integral in 1841.[b]

Integration is no longer commonly used in a first analytical definition because, as Remmert 2012 explains,
differential calculus typically precedes integral calculus in the university curriculum, so it is desirable to have a
definition of π that does not rely on the latter. One such definition, due to Richard Baltzer[13] and popularized
by Edmund Landau,[14] is the following: π is twice the smallest positive number at which the cosine function
equals 0.[10][12][15] π is also the smallest positive number at which the sine function equals zero, and the
difference between consecutive zeroes of the sine function. The cosine and sine can be defined independently of
geometry as a power series,[16] or as the solution of a differential equation.[15]

In a similar spirit, π can be defined using properties of the complex exponential, exp z, of a complex variable z.
Like the cosine, the complex exponential can be defined in one of several ways. The set of complex numbers at
which exp z is equal to one is then an (imaginary) arithmetic progression of the form:

and there is a unique positive real number π with this property.[12][17]

A variation on the same idea, making use of sophisticated mathematical concepts of topology and algebra, is the
following theorem:[18] there is a unique (up to automorphism) continuous isomorphism from the group R/Z of
real numbers under addition modulo integers (the circle group), onto the multiplicative group of complex
numbers of absolute value one. The number π is then defined as half the magnitude of the derivative of this
homomorphism.[19]
:
Irrationality and normality

π is an irrational number, meaning that it cannot be written as the ratio of two integers. Fractions such as 22
7
355
and are commonly used to approximate π, but no common fraction (ratio of whole numbers) can be its
113
exact value.[20] Because π is irrational, it has an infinite number of digits in its decimal representation, and
does not settle into an infinitely repeating pattern of digits. There are several proofs that π is irrational; they
generally require calculus and rely on the reductio ad absurdum technique. The degree to which π can be
approximated by rational numbers (called the irrationality measure) is not precisely known; estimates have
established that the irrationality measure is larger than the measure of e or ln 2 but smaller than the measure of
Liouville numbers.[21]

The digits of π have no apparent pattern and have passed tests for statistical randomness, including tests for
normality; a number of infinite length is called normal when all possible sequences of digits (of any given
length) appear equally often. The conjecture that π is normal has not been proven or disproven.[22]

Since the advent of computers, a large number of digits of π have been available on which to perform statistical
analysis. Yasumasa Kanada has performed detailed statistical analyses on the decimal digits of π, and found
them consistent with normality; for example, the frequencies of the ten digits 0 to 9 were subjected to statistical
significance tests, and no evidence of a pattern was found.[23] Any random sequence of digits contains
arbitrarily long subsequences that appear non-random, by the infinite monkey theorem. Thus, because the
sequence of π's digits passes statistical tests for randomness, it contains some sequences of digits that may
appear non-random, such as a sequence of six consecutive 9s that begins at the 762nd decimal place of the
decimal representation of π.[24] This is also called the "Feynman point" in mathematical folklore, after Richard
Feynman, although no connection to Feynman is known.

Transcendence
In addition to being irrational, π is also a transcendental number, which
means that it is not the solution of any non-constant polynomial equation
with rational coefficients, such as .[25][c]

The transcendence of π has two important consequences: First, π cannot be

expressed using any finite combination of rational numbers and square
roots or n-th roots (such as or ). Second, since no transcendental
number can be constructed with compass and straightedge, it is not possible
to "square the circle". In other words, it is impossible to construct, using
compass and straightedge alone, a square whose area is exactly equal to the
area of a given circle.[26] Squaring a circle was one of the important
Because π is a transcendental
number, squaring the circle is geometry problems of the classical antiquity.[27] Amateur mathematicians
not possible in a finite number in modern times have sometimes attempted to square the circle and claim
of steps using the classical success—despite the fact that it is mathematically impossible.[28][29]
tools of compass and
straightedge.
Continued fractions
As an irrational number, π cannot be represented as a common fraction. But every number, including π, can be
represented by an infinite series of nested fractions, called a continued fraction:
:
Truncating the continued fraction at any point yields a rational approximation for π; the first four of these are 3,
22 333 355
, , and . These numbers are among the best-known and most widely used historical approximations of
7 106 113
the constant. Each approximation generated in this way is a best rational approximation; that is, each is closer
to π than any other fraction with the same or a smaller denominator.[30] Because π is transcendental, it is by
definition not algebraic and so cannot be a quadratic irrational. Therefore, π cannot have a periodic continued
fraction. Although the simple continued fraction for π (shown above) also does not exhibit any other obvious
pattern,[31][32] several generalized continued fractions do, such as:[33]

The middle of these is due to the mid-17th century mathematician William Brouncker, see §  Brouncker's
formula.

Approximate value and digits

Some approximations of pi include:

Integers: 3
22 333 355 52163 103993
Fractions: Approximate fractions include (in order of increasing accuracy) 7 , 106 , 113 , 16604 , 33102 ,
104348 245850922 [30]
33215 , and 78256779 . (List is selected terms from OEIS: A063674 and OEIS: A063673.)
Digits: The first 50 decimal digits are
3.14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 37510...[34] (see OEIS: A000796)

Digits in other number systems

The first 48 binary (base 2) digits (called bits) are

11.0010 0100 0011 1111 0110 1010 1000 1000 1000 0101 1010 0011... (see OEIS: A004601)
The first 38 digits in ternary (base 3) are 10.010 211 0122 220 102 110 021 111 102 212 222 201... (see
OEIS: A004602)
The first 20 digits in hexadecimal (base 16) are 3.243F 6A88 85A3 08D3 1319...[35] (see OEIS: A062964)
The first five sexagesimal (base 60) digits are 3;8,29,44,0,47[36] (see OEIS: A060707)
:
Complex numbers and Euler's identity

Any complex number, say z, can be expressed using a pair of real numbers.
In the polar coordinate system, one number (radius or r) is used to represent
z's distance from the origin of the complex plane, and the other (angle or φ)
the counter-clockwise rotation from the positive real line:[37]

where i is the imaginary unit satisfying . The frequent appearance of

π in complex analysis can be related to the behaviour of the exponential
The association between
function of a complex variable, described by Euler's formula:[38] imaginary powers of the
number e and points on the unit
circle centred at the origin in the
complex plane given by Euler's
formula

where the constant e is the base of the natural logarithm. This formula establishes a correspondence between
imaginary powers of e and points on the unit circle centred at the origin of the complex plane. Setting in
Euler's formula results in Euler's identity, celebrated in mathematics due to it containing five important
mathematical constants:[38][39]

There are n different complex numbers z satisfying , and these are called the "n-th roots of unity"[40]
and are given by the formula:

History

Antiquity
The best-known approximations to π dating before the Common Era were accurate to two decimal places; this
was improved upon in Chinese mathematics in particular by the mid-first millennium, to an accuracy of seven
decimal places. After this, no further progress was made until the late medieval period.

The earliest written approximations of π are found in Babylon and Egypt, both within one percent of the true
value. In Babylon, a clay tablet dated 1900–1600 BC has a geometrical statement that, by implication, treats π
25
as 8   =  3.125.[41] In Egypt, the Rhind Papyrus, dated around 1650  BC but copied from a document dated to
1850  BC, has a formula for the area of a circle that treats π as .[32][41] Although some
pyramidologists such as Flinders Petrie have theorized that the Great Pyramid of Giza was built with
proportions related to π, this theory is not widely accepted by scholars.[42] In the Shulba Sutras of Indian
mathematics, dating to an oral tradition from the first or second millennium BC, approximations are given
which have been variously interpreted as approximately 3.08831, 3.08833, 3.004, 3, or 3.125.[43]
:
Polygon approximation era

The first recorded algorithm for rigorously calculating the

value of π was a geometrical approach using polygons,
devised around 250  BC by the Greek mathematician
Archimedes.[44] This polygonal algorithm dominated for
over 1,000 years, and as a result π is sometimes referred
to as Archimedes's constant.[45] Archimedes computed
π can be estimated by computing the perimeters of upper and lower bounds of π by drawing a regular
circumscribed and inscribed polygons. hexagon inside and outside a circle, and successively
doubling the number of sides until he reached a 96-sided
regular polygon. By calculating the perimeters of these polygons, he proved
223
that
71
< π < 227
(that is, 3.1408 < π < 3.1429).[46] Archimedes' upper
22
bound of may have led to a widespread popular belief that π is equal to
7
22 [47]
. Around 150  AD, Greek-Roman scientist Ptolemy, in his Almagest,
7
gave a value for π of 3.1416, which he may have obtained from Archimedes
or from Apollonius of Perga.[48][49] Mathematicians using polygonal
algorithms reached 39 digits of π in 1630, a record only broken in 1699 when
infinite series were used to reach 71 digits.[50]

In ancient China, values for π included 3.1547 (around 1 AD), (100 AD,

142
approximately 3.1623), and 45 (3rd century, approximately 3.1556).[51]
Around 265  AD, the Wei Kingdom mathematician Liu Hui created a
polygon-based iterative algorithm and used it with a 3,072-sided polygon to
Archimedes developed the obtain a value of π of  3.1416.[52][53] Liu later invented a faster method of
polygonal approach to calculating π and obtained a value of 3.14 with a 96-sided polygon, by taking
approximating π. advantage of the fact that the differences in area of successive polygons form
a geometric series with a factor of  4.[52] The Chinese mathematician Zu
Chongzhi, around 480  AD, calculated that and suggested the approximations
and , which he termed the Milü (''close ratio") and
Yuelü ("approximate ratio"), respectively, using Liu Hui's algorithm applied to a 12,288-sided polygon. With a
correct value for its seven first decimal digits, this value remained the most accurate approximation of π
available for the next 800 years.[54]

The Indian astronomer Aryabhata used a value of 3.1416 in his Āryabhaṭīya (499 AD).[55] Fibonacci in c. 1220
computed 3.1418 using a polygonal method, independent of Archimedes.[56] Italian author Dante apparently
employed the value .[56]

The Persian astronomer Jamshīd al-Kāshī produced nine sexagesimal digits, roughly the equivalent of 16
decimal digits, in 1424, using a polygon with sides,[57][58] which stood as the world record for about
180 years.[59] French mathematician François Viète in 1579 achieved nine digits with a polygon of
sides.[59] Flemish mathematician Adriaan van Roomen arrived at 15 decimal places in 1593.[59] In 1596, Dutch
mathematician Ludolph van Ceulen reached 20 digits, a record he later increased to 35 digits (as a result, π was
called the "Ludolphian number" in Germany until the early 20th century).[60] Dutch scientist Willebrord
Snellius reached 34 digits in 1621,[61] and Austrian astronomer Christoph Grienberger arrived at 38 digits in
1630 using 1040 sides.[62] Christiaan Huygens was able to arrive at 10 decimal places in 1654 using a slightly
different method equivalent to Richardson extrapolation.[63][64]

Infinite series
:
The calculation of π was revolutionized by the development of
infinite series techniques in the 16th and 17th centuries. An
infinite series is the sum of the terms of an infinite sequence.
Infinite series allowed mathematicians to compute π with much
greater precision than Archimedes and others who used
geometrical techniques.[65] Although infinite series were
exploited for π most notably by European mathematicians such
as James Gregory and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the approach
also appeared in the Kerala school sometime in the 14th or 15th
century.[66][67] Around 1500  AD, a written description of an
infinite series that could be used to compute π was laid out in Comparison of the convergence of several
Sanskrit verse in Tantrasamgraha by Nilakantha Somayaji.[66] historical infinite series for π. Sn is the
The series are presented without proof, but proofs are presented approximation after taking n terms. Each
in a later work, Yuktibhāṣā, from around 1530  AD. Several subsequent subplot magnifies the shaded
infinite series are described, including series for sine (which area horizontally by 10 times.
Nilakantha attributes to Madhava of Sangamagrama), cosine, (click for detail)
and arctangent which are now sometimes referred to as Madhava
series. The series for arctangent is sometimes called Gregory's
series or the Gregory–Leibniz series.[66] Madhava used infinite series to estimate π to 11 digits around
1400.[68]

In 1593, François Viète published what is now known as Viète's formula, an infinite product (rather than an
infinite sum, which is more typically used in π calculations):[69][70][71]

In 1655, John Wallis published what is now known as Wallis product, also an infinite product:[69]

In the 1660s, the English scientist Isaac Newton and German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
discovered calculus, which led to the development of many infinite series for approximating π. Newton himself
used an arcsine series to compute a 15-digit approximation of π in 1665 or 1666, writing, "I am ashamed to tell
you to how many figures I carried these computations, having no other business at the time."[72]

In 1671, James Gregory, and independently, Leibniz in 1673, discovered the Taylor series expansion for
arctangent:[66][73][74]

This series, sometimes called the Gregory–Leibniz series, equals when evaluated with .[74] But for
, it converges impractically slowly (that is, approaches the answer very gradually), taking about ten times
as many terms to calculate each additional digit.[75]
:
In 1699, English mathematician Abraham Sharp used the Gregory–Leibniz series
for to compute π to 71 digits, breaking the previous record of 39 digits,

which was set with a polygonal algorithm.[76]

In 1706, John Machin used the Gregory–Leibniz series to produce an algorithm

that converged much faster:[3][77][78]

Machin reached 100 digits of π with this formula.[79] Other mathematicians created Isaac Newton used
variants, now known as Machin-like formulae, that were used to set several infinite series to
compute π to 15 digits,
successive records for calculating digits of π.[80][79]
later writing "I am
ashamed to tell you to
Isaac Newton accelerated the convergence of the Gregory–Leibniz series in 1684 (in
how many figures I
an unpublished work; others independently discovered the result):[81] carried these
computations".[72]

Leonhard Euler popularized this series in his 1755 differential calculus textbook, and later used it with Machin-
like formulae, including with which he computed 20 digits of π in one hour.[82]

Machin-like formulae remained the best-known method for calculating π well into the age of computers, and
were used to set records for 250 years, culminating in a 620-digit approximation in 1946 by Daniel Ferguson –
the best approximation achieved without the aid of a calculating device.[83]

In 1844, a record was set by Zacharias Dase, who employed a Machin-like formula to calculate 200 decimals of
π in his head at the behest of German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss.[84]
In 1853, British mathematician William Shanks calculated π to 607 digits, but made a mistake in the 528th
digit, rendering all subsequent digits incorrect. Though he calculated an additional 100 digits in 1873, bringing
the total up to 707, his previous mistake rendered all the new digits incorrect as well.[85]

Rate of convergence

Some infinite series for π converge faster than others. Given the choice of two infinite series for π,
mathematicians will generally use the one that converges more rapidly because faster convergence reduces the
amount of computation needed to calculate π to any given accuracy.[86] A simple infinite series for π is the
Gregory–Leibniz series:[87]

As individual terms of this infinite series are added to the sum, the total gradually gets closer to π, and – with a
sufficient number of terms – can get as close to π as desired. It converges quite slowly, though – after 500,000
terms, it produces only five correct decimal digits of π.[88]

An infinite series for π (published by Nilakantha in the 15th century) that converges more rapidly than the
Gregory–Leibniz series is:[89][90]
:
The following table compares the convergence rates of these two series:

After After After After After

Converges
Infinite series for π 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
to:
term term term term term

2.6666 3.4666 2.8952 3.3396

4.0000
... ... ... ... π = 3.1415
3.1666 3.1333 3.1452 3.1396 ...
3.0000
... ... ... ...

After five terms, the sum of the Gregory–Leibniz series is within 0.2 of the correct value of π, whereas the sum
of Nilakantha's series is within 0.002 of the correct value. Nilakantha's series converges faster and is more
useful for computing digits of π. Series that converge even faster include Machin's series and Chudnovsky's
series, the latter producing 14 correct decimal digits per term.[86]

Irrationality and transcendence

Not all mathematical advances relating to π were aimed at increasing the accuracy of approximations. When
Euler solved the Basel problem in 1735, finding the exact value of the sum of the reciprocal squares, he
established a connection between π and the prime numbers that later contributed to the development and study
of the Riemann zeta function:[91]

Swiss scientist Johann Heinrich Lambert in 1768 proved that π is irrational, meaning it is not equal to the
quotient of any two integers.[20] Lambert's proof exploited a continued-fraction representation of the tangent
function.[92] French mathematician Adrien-Marie Legendre proved in 1794 that π2 is also irrational. In 1882,
German mathematician Ferdinand von Lindemann proved that π is transcendental,[93] confirming a conjecture
made by both Legendre and Euler.[94][95] Hardy and Wright states that "the proofs were afterwards modified
and simplified by Hilbert, Hurwitz, and other writers".[96]

Adoption of the symbol π

In the earliest usages, the Greek letter π was used to denote the semiperimeter (semiperipheria in Latin) of a
circle[8] and was combined in ratios with δ (for diameter or semidiameter) or ρ (for radius) to form circle
constants.[97][98][99][100] (Before then, mathematicians sometimes used letters such as c or p instead.[101])
The first recorded use is Oughtred's " ", to express the ratio of periphery and diameter in the 1647 and later
[102][101]
editions of Clavis Mathematicae. Barrow likewise used " " to represent the constant 3.14...,[103]
while Gregory instead used " " to represent 6.28... .[104][99]

The earliest known use of the Greek letter π alone to represent the ratio of a circle's circumference to its
diameter was by Welsh mathematician William Jones in his 1706 work Synopsis Palmariorum Matheseos; or,
a New Introduction to the Mathematics.[3][105] The Greek letter appears on p. 243 in the phrase " Periphery
(π)", calculated for a circle with radius one. However, Jones writes that his equations for π are from the "ready
:
pen of the truly ingenious Mr. John Machin", leading to speculation that Machin may have employed the Greek
letter before Jones.[101] Jones' notation was not immediately adopted by other mathematicians, with the
fraction notation still being used as late as 1767.[97][106]

Euler started using the single-letter form beginning with his 1727 Essay Explaining the Properties of Air,
though he used π = 6.28..., the ratio of periphery to radius, in this and some later writing.[107][108] Euler first
used π = 3.14... in his 1736 work Mechanica,[109] and continued in his widely read 1748 work Introductio in
analysin infinitorum (he wrote: "for the sake of brevity we will write this number as π; thus π is equal to half
the circumference of a circle of radius 1").[110] Because Euler corresponded heavily with other mathematicians
in Europe, the use of the Greek letter spread rapidly, and the practice was universally adopted thereafter in the
Western world,[101] though the definition still varied between 3.14... and 6.28... as late as 1761.[111]

Modern quest for more digits

Computer era and iterative algorithms

The Gauss–Legendre iterative algorithm:

Initialize

The earliest known Leonhard Euler

Iterate
use of the Greek popularized the use
letter π to represent of the Greek letter π
the ratio of a circle's in works he
circumference to its published in 1736
diameter was by and 1748.
Welsh
mathematician Then an estimate for π is given by
William Jones in
1706

The development of computers in the mid-20th

century again revolutionized the hunt for digits of π.
Mathematicians John Wrench and Levi Smith reached 1,120 digits in 1949 using a desk calculator.[112] Using an
inverse tangent (arctan) infinite series, a team led by George Reitwiesner and John von Neumann that same
year achieved 2,037 digits with a calculation that took 70 hours of computer time on the ENIAC
computer.[113][114] The record, always relying on an arctan series, was broken repeatedly (3089 digits in
1955,[115] 7,480 digits in 1957; 10,000 digits in 1958; 100,000 digits in 1961) until 1 million digits were reached
in 1973.[113]

Two additional developments around 1980 once again accelerated the ability to compute π. First, the discovery
of new iterative algorithms for computing π, which were much faster than the infinite series; and second, the
invention of fast multiplication algorithms that could multiply large numbers very rapidly.[116] Such algorithms
are particularly important in modern π computations because most of the computer's time is devoted to
multiplication.[117] They include the Karatsuba algorithm, Toom–Cook multiplication, and Fourier transform-
based methods.[118]

The iterative algorithms were independently published in 1975–1976 by physicist Eugene Salamin and scientist
Richard Brent.[119] These avoid reliance on infinite series. An iterative algorithm repeats a specific calculation,
each iteration using the outputs from prior steps as its inputs, and produces a result in each step that converges
to the desired value. The approach was actually invented over 160 years earlier by Carl Friedrich Gauss, in what
is now termed the arithmetic–geometric mean method (AGM method) or Gauss–Legendre algorithm.[119] As
modified by Salamin and Brent, it is also referred to as the Brent–Salamin algorithm.
:
The iterative algorithms were widely used after 1980 because they are faster than infinite series algorithms:
whereas infinite series typically increase the number of correct digits additively in successive terms, iterative
algorithms generally multiply the number of correct digits at each step. For example, the Brent–Salamin
algorithm doubles the number of digits in each iteration. In 1984, brothers John and Peter Borwein produced
an iterative algorithm that quadruples the number of digits in each step; and in 1987, one that increases the
number of digits five times in each step.[120] Iterative methods were used by Japanese mathematician
Yasumasa Kanada to set several records for computing π between 1995 and 2002.[121] This rapid convergence
comes at a price: the iterative algorithms require significantly more memory than infinite series.[121]

Motives for computing π

For most numerical calculations involving π, a handful of digits
provide sufficient precision. According to Jörg Arndt and
Christoph Haenel, thirty-nine digits are sufficient to perform
most cosmological calculations, because that is the accuracy
necessary to calculate the circumference of the observable
universe with a precision of one atom. Accounting for additional
digits needed to compensate for computational round-off errors,
Arndt concludes that a few hundred digits would suffice for any
As mathematicians discovered new scientific application. Despite this, people have worked
algorithms, and computers became strenuously to compute π to thousands and millions of
available, the number of known decimal digits.[122] This effort may be partly ascribed to the human
digits of π increased dramatically. The compulsion to break records, and such achievements with π
vertical scale is logarithmic.
often make headlines around the world.[123][124] They also have
practical benefits, such as testing supercomputers, testing
numerical analysis algorithms (including high-precision multiplication algorithms); and within pure
mathematics itself, providing data for evaluating the randomness of the digits of π.[125]

Rapidly convergent series

Modern π calculators do not use iterative algorithms exclusively. New infinite series
were discovered in the 1980s and 1990s that are as fast as iterative algorithms, yet
are simpler and less memory intensive.[121] The fast iterative algorithms were
anticipated in 1914, when Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan published
dozens of innovative new formulae for π, remarkable for their elegance,
mathematical depth and rapid convergence.[126] One of his formulae, based on
modular equations, is

Srinivasa Ramanujan,
working in isolation in
India, produced many
This series converges much more rapidly than most arctan series, including innovative series for
computing π.
Machin's formula.[127] Bill Gosper was the first to use it for advances in the
calculation of π, setting a record of 17 million digits in 1985.[128] Ramanujan's
formulae anticipated the modern algorithms developed by the Borwein brothers (Jonathan and Peter) and the
Chudnovsky brothers.[129] The Chudnovsky formula developed in 1987 is
:
It produces about 14 digits of π per term[130] and has been used for several record-setting π calculations,
including the first to surpass 1 billion (109) digits in 1989 by the Chudnovsky brothers, 10 trillion (1013) digits in
2011 by Alexander Yee and Shigeru Kondo,[131] and 100 trillion digits by Emma Haruka Iwao in 2022.[132] For
similar formulae, see also the Ramanujan–Sato series.

In 2006, mathematician Simon Plouffe used the PSLQ integer relation algorithm[133] to generate several new
formulae for π, conforming to the following template:

π
where q is e (Gelfond's constant), k is an odd number, and a, b, c are certain rational numbers that Plouffe
computed.[134]

Monte Carlo methods

Monte Carlo methods, which evaluate the results of multiple random trials,
can be used to create approximations of π.[135] Buffon's needle is one such
technique: If a needle of length ℓ is dropped n times on a surface on which
parallel lines are drawn t units apart, and if x of those times it comes to rest
Buffon's needle. Random crossing a line (x  >  0), then one may approximate π based on the
Needles a and b dots are counts:[136]
are dropped placed on
randomly. a square
and a
circle
inscribed
inside.

Another Monte Carlo method for computing π is to draw a circle inscribed in

a square, and randomly place dots in the square. The ratio of dots inside the circle to the total number of dots
will approximately equal π/4.[137]

Another way to calculate π using probability is to start with a random walk,

generated by a sequence of (fair) coin tosses: independent random variables
Xk such that Xk ∈ {−1,1} with equal probabilities. The associated random
walk is

Five random walks with 200

steps. The sample mean of
|W200 | is µ = 56/5, and so
2(200)µ−2 ≈ 3.19 is within 0.05 so that, for each n, Wn is drawn from a shifted and scaled binomial
of π.
distribution. As n varies, Wn defines a (discrete) stochastic process. Then π
can be calculated by[138]
:
This Monte Carlo method is independent of any relation to circles, and is a consequence of the central limit
theorem, discussed below.

These Monte Carlo methods for approximating π are very slow compared to other methods, and do not provide
any information on the exact number of digits that are obtained. Thus they are never used to approximate π
when speed or accuracy is desired.[139]

Spigot algorithms

Two algorithms were discovered in 1995 that opened up new avenues of research into π. They are called spigot
algorithms because, like water dripping from a spigot, they produce single digits of π that are not reused after
they are calculated.[140][141] This is in contrast to infinite series or iterative algorithms, which retain and use all
intermediate digits until the final result is produced.[140]

Mathematicians Stan Wagon and Stanley Rabinowitz produced a simple spigot algorithm in 1995.[141][142][143]
Its speed is comparable to arctan algorithms, but not as fast as iterative algorithms.[142]

Another spigot algorithm, the BBP digit extraction algorithm, was discovered in 1995 by Simon
Plouffe:[144][145]

This formula, unlike others before it, can produce any individual hexadecimal digit of π without calculating all
the preceding digits.[144] Individual binary digits may be extracted from individual hexadecimal digits, and
octal digits can be extracted from one or two hexadecimal digits. Variations of the algorithm have been
discovered, but no digit extraction algorithm has yet been found that rapidly produces decimal digits.[146] An
important application of digit extraction algorithms is to validate new claims of record π computations: After a
new record is claimed, the decimal result is converted to hexadecimal, and then a digit extraction algorithm is
used to calculate several random hexadecimal digits near the end; if they match, this provides a measure of
confidence that the entire computation is correct.[131]

Between 1998 and 2000, the distributed computing project PiHex used Bellard's formula (a modification of the
BBP algorithm) to compute the quadrillionth (1015th) bit of π, which turned out to be 0.[147] In September
2010, a Yahoo! employee used the company's Hadoop application on one thousand computers over a 23-day
period to compute 256 bits of π at the two-quadrillionth (2×1015th) bit, which also happens to be zero.[148]

Role and characterizations in mathematics

Because π is closely related to the circle, it is found in many formulae from the fields of geometry and
trigonometry, particularly those concerning circles, spheres, or ellipses. Other branches of science, such as
statistics, physics, Fourier analysis, and number theory, also include π in some of their important formulae.

Geometry and trigonometry

π appears in formulae for areas and volumes of geometrical shapes based on circles, such as ellipses, spheres,
cones, and tori. Below are some of the more common formulae that involve π.[149]

The circumference of a circle with radius r is 2πr.

The area of a circle with radius r is πr2.
:
 The area of an ellipse with semi-major axis a and semi-minor axis b is
πab.
4
The volume of a sphere with radius r is πr3.
3
The surface area of a sphere with radius r is 4πr2.

Some of the formulae above are special cases of the volume of the n-
dimensional ball and the surface area of its boundary, the (n−1)-dimensional
sphere, given below.

Apart from circles, there are other curves of constant width. By Barbier's
theorem, every curve of constant width has perimeter π times its width. The
Reuleaux triangle (formed by the intersection of three circles with the sides
of an equilateral triangle as their radii) has the smallest possible area for its
width and the circle the largest. There also exist non-circular smooth and
even algebraic curves of constant width.[150]

Definite integrals that describe circumference, area, or volume of shapes

generated by circles typically have values that involve π. For example, an The area of the circle equals π
integral that specifies half the area of a circle of radius one is given by:[151] times the shaded area. The
area of the unit circle is π.

In that integral, the function represents the height over the -axis of a semicircle (the square root is a
consequence of the Pythagorean theorem), and the integral computes the area below the semicircle.

Units of angle
The trigonometric functions rely on angles, and
mathematicians generally use radians as units of
measurement. π plays an important role in angles
measured in radians, which are defined so that a complete
circle spans an angle of 2π radians. The angle measure of
180° is equal to π radians, and 1° = π/180 radians.[152]

Sine and cosine functions repeat with period 2π. Common trigonometric functions have periods that are
multiples of π; for example, sine and cosine have period
2π,[153] so for any angle θ and any integer k,[153]

Eigenvalues

Many of the appearances of π in the formulae of mathematics and the sciences have to do with its close
relationship with geometry. However, π also appears in many natural situations having apparently nothing to
do with geometry.
:
In many applications, it plays a distinguished role as an eigenvalue. For
example, an idealized vibrating string can be modelled as the graph of a
function f on the unit interval [0, 1], with fixed ends f(0) = f(1) = 0. The
modes of vibration of the string are solutions of the differential equation
, or . Thus λ is an eigenvalue of the
second derivative operator , and is constrained by Sturm–Liouville
theory to take on only certain specific values. It must be positive, since the
operator is negative definite, so it is convenient to write λ = ν2, where ν > 0
is called the wavenumber. Then f(x) = sin(π x) satisfies the boundary
conditions and the differential equation with ν = π.[154]

The value π is, in fact, the least such value of the wavenumber, and is
associated with the fundamental mode of vibration of the string. One way to
show this is by estimating the energy, which satisfies Wirtinger's
inequality:[155] for a function with f(0) = f(1) = 0 and f, f ′
both square integrable, we have:

The overtones of a vibrating

string are eigenfunctions of the

second derivative, and form a

harmonic progression. The
with equality precisely when f is a multiple of sin(π x). Here π appears as an associated eigenvalues form
optimal constant in Wirtinger's inequality, and it follows that it is the the arithmetic progression of
smallest wavenumber, using the variational characterization of the integer multiples of π.
eigenvalue. As a consequence, π is the smallest singular value of the
derivative operator on the space of functions on [0, 1] vanishing at both endpoints (the Sobolev space
).

Inequalities
The number π serves appears in similar eigenvalue problems in higher-
dimensional analysis. As mentioned above, it can be characterized via its
role as the best constant in the isoperimetric inequality: the area A enclosed
by a plane Jordan curve of perimeter P satisfies the inequality

and equality is clearly achieved for the circle, since in that case A = πr2 and
The ancient city of Carthage
P = 2πr.[157]
was the solution to an
Ultimately, as a consequence of the isoperimetric inequality, π appears in
isoperimetric problem,
according to a legend
the optimal constant for the critical Sobolev inequality in n dimensions,
which thus characterizes the role of π in many physical phenomena as well,
recounted by Lord Kelvin:[156]
those lands bordering the sea for example those of classical potential theory.[158][159][160] In two
dimensions, the critical Sobolev inequality is
that Queen Dido could enclose
on all other sides within a single
given oxhide, cut into strips.
:
for f a smooth function with compact support in R2, is the gradient of f, and and refer
2 1
respectively to the L and L -norm. The Sobolev inequality is equivalent to the isoperimetric inequality (in any
dimension), with the same best constants.

Wirtinger's inequality also generalizes to higher-dimensional Poincaré inequalities that provide best constants
for the Dirichlet energy of an n-dimensional membrane. Specifically, π is the greatest constant such that

for all convex subsets G of Rn of diameter 1, and square-integrable functions u on G of mean zero.[161] Just as
Wirtinger's inequality is the variational form of the Dirichlet eigenvalue problem in one dimension, the
Poincaré inequality is the variational form of the Neumann eigenvalue problem, in any dimension.

Fourier transform and Heisenberg uncertainty principle

The constant π also appears as a critical spectral parameter in the Fourier
transform. This is the integral transform, that takes a complex-valued
integrable function f on the real line to the function defined as:

Although there are several different conventions for the Fourier transform
and its inverse, any such convention must involve π somewhere. The above
is the most canonical definition, however, giving the unique unitary operator
on L2 that is also an algebra homomorphism of L1 to L∞.[162]

The Heisenberg uncertainty principle also contains the number π. The

uncertainty principle gives a sharp lower bound on the extent to which it is An animation of a geodesic in
possible to localize a function both in space and in frequency: with our the Heisenberg group
conventions for the Fourier transform,

The physical consequence, about the uncertainty in simultaneous position and momentum observations of a
quantum mechanical system, is discussed below. The appearance of π in the formulae of Fourier analysis is
ultimately a consequence of the Stone–von Neumann theorem, asserting the uniqueness of the Schrödinger
representation of the Heisenberg group.[163]

Gaussian integrals
:
 The fields of probability and statistics frequently use the normal distribution
as a simple model for complex phenomena; for example, scientists generally
assume that the observational error in most experiments follows a normal
distribution.[164] The Gaussian function, which is the probability density
function of the normal distribution with mean µ and standard deviation σ,
naturally contains π:[165]

A graph of the Gaussian

2 The factor of makes the area under the graph of f equal to one, as is
function ƒ(x) = e−x . The
coloured region between the required for a probability distribution. This follows from a change of
function and the x-axis has area variables in the Gaussian integral:[165]
√π .

which says that the area under the basic bell curve in the figure is equal to the square root of π.

The central limit theorem explains the central role of normal distributions, and thus of π, in probability and
statistics. This theorem is ultimately connected with the spectral characterization of π as the eigenvalue
associated with the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, and the fact that equality holds in the uncertainty
principle only for the Gaussian function.[166] Equivalently, π is the unique constant making the Gaussian
2
normal distribution e−πx equal to its own Fourier transform.[167] Indeed, according to Howe (1980), the
"whole business" of establishing the fundamental theorems of Fourier analysis reduces to the Gaussian
integral.[163]

Topology

The constant π appears in the Gauss–Bonnet formula which relates the

differential geometry of surfaces to their topology. Specifically, if a compact
surface Σ has Gauss curvature K, then

where χ(Σ) is the Euler characteristic, which is an integer.[168] An example

is the surface area of a sphere S of curvature 1 (so that its radius of
Uniformization of the Klein
curvature, which coincides with its radius, is also 1.) The Euler characteristic
quartic, a surface of genus
of a sphere can be computed from its homology groups and is found to be
equal to two. Thus we have three and Euler characteristic
−4, as a quotient of the
hyperbolic plane by the
symmetry group PSL(2,7) of the
Fano plane. The hyperbolic
area of a fundamental domain
is 8π, by Gauss–Bonnet.
:
reproducing the formula for the surface area of a sphere of radius 1.

The constant appears in many other integral formulae in topology, in particular, those involving characteristic
classes via the Chern–Weil homomorphism.[169]

Cauchy's integral formula

One of the key tools in complex analysis is contour integration of a function

over a positively oriented (rectifiable) Jordan curve γ. A form of Cauchy's
integral formula states that if a point z0 is interior to γ, then[170]

Complex analytic functions can

Although the curve γ is not a circle, and hence does not have any obvious be visualized as a collection of
streamlines and equipotentials,
connection to the constant π, a standard proof of this result uses Morera's
systems of curves intersecting
theorem, which implies that the integral is invariant under homotopy of the
at right angles. Here illustrated
curve, so that it can be deformed to a circle and then integrated explicitly in is the complex logarithm of the
polar coordinates. More generally, it is true that if a rectifiable closed curve γ Gamma function.
does not contain z0, then the above integral is 2πi times the winding number
of the curve.

The general form of Cauchy's integral formula establishes the relationship between the values of a complex
analytic function f(z) on the Jordan curve γ and the value of f(z) at any interior point z0 of γ:[171]

provided f(z) is analytic in the region enclosed by γ and extends continuously to γ. Cauchy's integral formula is a
special case of the residue theorem, that if g(z) is a meromorphic function the region enclosed by γ and is
continuous in a neighbourhood of γ, then

where the sum is of the residues at the poles of g(z).

Total curvature
In mathematical study of the differential geometry of curves, the total curvature of an immersed plane curve is
the integral of curvature along a curve taken with respect to arc length:

The total curvature of a closed curve is always an integer multiple of 2π, where N is called the index of the curve
or turning number – it is the winding number of the unit tangent vector about the origin, or equivalently the
:
degree of the map to the unit circle assigning to each point of the
curve, the unit velocity vector at that point. This map is similar to
the Gauss map for surfaces.

The gamma function and Stirling's approximation

The factorial function is the product of all of the positive

integers through n. The gamma function extends the concept of
factorial (normally defined only for non-negative integers) to all
complex numbers, except the negative real integers, with the
identity . When the gamma function is
evaluated at half-integers, the result contains π. For example,
and .[172]

The gamma function is defined by its Weierstrass product

development:[173]

This curve has total curvature 6π, and

index/turning number 3, though it only has
winding number 2 about p.

where γ is the Euler–Mascheroni constant. Evaluated at z = 1/2

and squared, the equation Γ(1/2)2 = π reduces to the Wallis product
formula. The gamma function is also connected to the Riemann zeta
function and identities for the functional determinant, in which the constant
π plays an important role.
The gamma function is used to calculate the volume Vn(r) of the n-
dimensional ball of radius r in Euclidean n-dimensional space, and the
surface area Sn−1(r) of its boundary, the (n−1)-dimensional sphere:[174]

Plot of the gamma function on

the real axis

Further, it follows from the functional equation that

The gamma function can be used to create a simple approximation to the factorial function n! for large n:
which is known as Stirling's approximation.[175] Equivalently,
:
As a geometrical application of Stirling's approximation, let Δn denote the standard simplex in n-dimensional
Euclidean space, and (n + 1)Δn denote the simplex having all of its sides scaled up by a factor of n + 1. Then

Ehrhart's volume conjecture is that this is the (optimal) upper bound on the volume of a convex body
containing only one lattice point.[176]

Number theory and Riemann zeta function

The Riemann zeta function ζ(s) is used in many areas of mathematics. When
evaluated at s = 2 it can be written as

Each prime has an associated

Finding a simple solution for this infinite series was a famous problem in
Prüfer group, which are
mathematics called the Basel problem. Leonhard Euler solved it in 1735 arithmetic localizations of the
when he showed it was equal to π2/6.[91] Euler's result leads to the number circle. The L-functions of
theory result that the probability of two random numbers being relatively analytic number theory are also
2 localized in each prime p.
prime (that is, having no shared factors) is equal to 6/π .[177][178] This
probability is based on the observation that the probability that any number
is divisible by a prime p is 1/p (for example, every 7th integer is divisible by
7.) Hence the probability that two numbers are both divisible by this prime
is 1/p2, and the probability that at least one of them is not is 1 − 1/p2. For
distinct primes, these divisibility events are mutually independent; so the
probability that two numbers are relatively prime is given by a product over
all primes:[179] Solution of the Basel problem
using the Weil conjecture: the
value of ζ(2) is the hyperbolic
area of a fundamental domain
of the modular group, times π/2.
:
This probability can be used in conjunction with a random number generator to approximate π using a Monte
Carlo approach.[180]

The solution to the Basel problem implies that the geometrically derived quantity π is connected in a deep way
to the distribution of prime numbers. This is a special case of Weil's conjecture on Tamagawa numbers, which
asserts the equality of similar such infinite products of arithmetic quantities, localized at each prime p, and a
geometrical quantity: the reciprocal of the volume of a certain locally symmetric space. In the case of the Basel
problem, it is the hyperbolic 3-manifold SL2(R)/SL2(Z).[181]

The zeta function also satisfies Riemann's functional equation, which involves π as well as the gamma function:

Furthermore, the derivative of the zeta function satisfies

A consequence is that π can be obtained from the functional determinant of the harmonic oscillator. This
functional determinant can be computed via a product expansion, and is equivalent to the Wallis product
formula.[182] The calculation can be recast in quantum mechanics, specifically the variational approach to the
spectrum of the hydrogen atom.[183]

Fourier series
The constant π also appears naturally in Fourier series of periodic functions.
Periodic functions are functions on the group T =R/Z of fractional parts of
real numbers. The Fourier decomposition shows that a complex-valued
function f on T can be written as an infinite linear superposition of unitary
characters of T. That is, continuous group homomorphisms from T to the
circle group U(1) of unit modulus complex numbers. It is a theorem that
every character of T is one of the complex exponentials .

There is a unique character on T, up to complex conjugation, that is a group

isomorphism. Using the Haar measure on the circle group, the constant π is
half the magnitude of the Radon–Nikodym derivative of this character. The
π appears in characters of p- other characters have derivatives whose magnitudes are positive integral
adic numbers (shown), which multiples of 2π.[19] As a result, the constant π is the unique number such
are elements of a Prüfer group. that the group T, equipped with its Haar measure, is Pontrjagin dual to the
Tate's thesis makes heavy use lattice of integral multiples of 2π.[185] This is a version of the one-
of this machinery.[184] dimensional Poisson summation formula.

Modular forms and theta functions

The constant π is connected in a deep way with the theory of modular forms and theta functions. For example,
the Chudnovsky algorithm involves in an essential way the j-invariant of an elliptic curve.

Modular forms are holomorphic functions in the upper half plane characterized by their transformation
properties under the modular group (or its various subgroups), a lattice in the group . An
example is the Jacobi theta function
:
which is a kind of modular form called a Jacobi form.[186] This is sometimes
written in terms of the nome .

The constant π is the unique constant making the Jacobi theta function an
automorphic form, which means that it transforms in a specific way. Certain
identities hold for all automorphic forms. An example is

Theta functions transform under

which implies that θ transforms as a representation under the discrete the lattice of periods of an
Heisenberg group. General modular forms and other theta functions also elliptic curve.
involve π, once again because of the Stone–von Neumann theorem.[186]

Cauchy distribution and potential theory

The Cauchy distribution

The Witch of Agnesi, named for

Maria Agnesi (1718–1799), is a
is a probability density function. The total probability is equal to one, owing
geometrical construction of the
to the integral:
graph of the Cauchy
distribution.

The Shannon entropy of the Cauchy distribution is equal to ln(4π), which

also involves π.

The Cauchy distribution plays an important role in potential theory because

it is the simplest Furstenberg measure, the classical Poisson kernel
The Cauchy distribution associated with a Brownian motion in a half-plane.[187] Conjugate harmonic
governs the passage of functions and so also the Hilbert transform are associated with the
Brownian particles through a asymptotics of the Poisson kernel. The Hilbert transform H is the integral
transform given by the Cauchy principal value of the singular integral
membrane.
:
The constant π is the unique (positive) normalizing factor such that H defines a linear complex structure on the
Hilbert space of square-integrable real-valued functions on the real line.[188] The Hilbert transform, like the
Fourier transform, can be characterized purely in terms of its transformation properties on the Hilbert space
L2(R): up to a normalization factor, it is the unique bounded linear operator that commutes with positive
dilations and anti-commutes with all reflections of the real line.[189] The constant π is the unique normalizing
factor that makes this transformation unitary.

In the Mandelbrot set

An occurrence of π in the fractal called the Mandelbrot set was discovered by
David Boll in 1991.[190] He examined the behaviour of the Mandelbrot set
near the "neck" at (−0.75, 0). When the number of iterations until
divergence for the point (−0.75, ε) is multiplied by ε, the result approaches
π as ε approaches zero. The point (0.25 + ε, 0) at the cusp of the large
"valley" on the right side of the Mandelbrot set behaves similarly: the
number of iterations until divergence multiplied by the square root of ε
tends to π.[190][191]
The Mandelbrot set can be
Outside mathematics used to approximate π.

Describing physical phenomena

Although not a physical constant, π appears routinely in equations describing fundamental principles of the
universe, often because of π's relationship to the circle and to spherical coordinate systems. A simple formula
from the field of classical mechanics gives the approximate period T of a simple pendulum of length L, swinging
with a small amplitude (g is the earth's gravitational acceleration):[192]

One of the key formulae of quantum mechanics is Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, which shows that the
uncertainty in the measurement of a particle's position (Δx) and momentum (Δp) cannot both be arbitrarily
small at the same time (where h is the Planck constant):[193]

The fact that π is approximately equal to 3 plays a role in the relatively long lifetime of orthopositronium. The
inverse lifetime to lowest order in the fine-structure constant α is[194]

where me is the mass of the electron.

π is present in some structural engineering formulae, such as the buckling formula derived by Euler, which
gives the maximum axial load F that a long, slender column of length L, modulus of elasticity E, and area
moment of inertia I can carry without buckling:[195]
:
The field of fluid dynamics contains π in Stokes' law, which approximates the frictional force F exerted on
small, spherical objects of radius R, moving with velocity v in a fluid with dynamic viscosity η:[196]

In electromagnetics, the vacuum permeability constant µ0 appears in Maxwell's equations, which describe the
properties of electric and magnetic fields and electromagnetic radiation. Before 20 May 2019, it was defined as
exactly

Under ideal conditions (uniform gentle slope on a homogeneously erodible substrate), the sinuosity of a
meandering river approaches π. The sinuosity is the ratio between the actual length and the straight-line
distance from source to mouth. Faster currents along the outside edges of a river's bends cause more erosion
than along the inside edges, thus pushing the bends even farther out, and increasing the overall loopiness of the
river. However, that loopiness eventually causes the river to double back on itself in places and "short-circuit",
creating an ox-bow lake in the process. The balance between these two opposing factors leads to an average
ratio of π between the actual length and the direct distance between source and mouth.[197][198]

Memorizing digits

Piphilology is the practice of memorizing large numbers of digits of π,[199] and world-records are kept by the
Guinness World Records. The record for memorizing digits of π, certified by Guinness World Records, is
70,000 digits, recited in India by Rajveer Meena in 9 hours and 27 minutes on 21 March 2015.[200] In 2006,
Akira Haraguchi, a retired Japanese engineer, claimed to have recited 100,000 decimal places, but the claim
was not verified by Guinness World Records.[201]

One common technique is to memorize a story or poem in which the word lengths represent the digits of π: The
first word has three letters, the second word has one, the third has four, the fourth has one, the fifth has five,
and so on. Such memorization aids are called mnemonics. An early example of a mnemonic for pi, originally
devised by English scientist James Jeans, is "How I want a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy lectures
involving quantum mechanics."[199] When a poem is used, it is sometimes referred to as a piem.[202] Poems for
memorizing π have been composed in several languages in addition to English.[199] Record-setting π
memorizers typically do not rely on poems, but instead use methods such as remembering number patterns and
the method of loci.[203]

A few authors have used the digits of π to establish a new form of constrained writing, where the word lengths
are required to represent the digits of π. The Cadaeic Cadenza contains the first 3835 digits of π in this
manner,[204] and the full-length book Not a Wake contains 10,000 words, each representing one digit of
π.[205]

In popular culture
:
Perhaps because of the simplicity of its definition and its ubiquitous
presence in formulae, π has been represented in popular culture more than
other mathematical constructs.[206]

In the 2008 Open University and BBC documentary co-production, The

Story of Maths, aired in October 2008 on BBC Four, British mathematician
Marcus du Sautoy shows a visualization of the – historically first exact –
formula for calculating π when visiting India and exploring its contributions
to trigonometry.[207]

In the Palais de la Découverte (a science museum in Paris) there is a circular

room known as the pi room. On its wall are inscribed 707 digits of π. The
digits are large wooden characters attached to the dome-like ceiling. The
digits were based on an 1873 calculation by English mathematician William
Shanks, which included an error beginning at the 528th digit. The error was
A pi pie. Pies are circular, and
detected in 1946 and corrected in 1949.[208] "pie" and π are homophones,
making pie a frequent subject of
In Carl Sagan's 1985 novel Contact it is suggested that the creator of the
pi puns.
universe buried a message deep within the digits of π.[209] The digits of π
have also been incorporated into the lyrics of the song "Pi" from the 2005
album Aerial by Kate Bush.[210] In the 1967 Star Trek episode "Wolf in the Fold", an out-of-control computer is
contained by being instructed to "Compute to the last digit the value of π".[46]

In the United States, Pi Day falls on 14 March (written 3/14 in the US style), and is popular among students.[46]
π and its digital representation are often used by self-described "math geeks" for inside jokes among
mathematically and technologically minded groups. A college cheer variously attributed to the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology or the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute includes "3.14159".[211][212] Pi Day in 2015 was
particularly significant because the date and time 3/14/15 9:26:53 reflected many more digits of pi.[213][214] In
parts of the world where dates are commonly noted in day/month/year format, 22 July represents "Pi
Approximation Day", as 22/7 = 3.142857.[215]

Some have proposed replacing π by τ = 2π,[216] arguing that τ, as the number of radians in one turn or the ratio
of a circle's circumference to its radius, is more natural than π and simplifies many formulae.[217][218] This use
of τ has not made its way into mainstream mathematics,[219] but since 2010 this has led to people celebrating
Two Pi Day or Tau Day on June 28.[220]

In 1897, an amateur mathematician attempted to persuade the Indiana legislature to pass the Indiana Pi Bill,
which described a method to square the circle and contained text that implied various incorrect values for π,
including 3.2. The bill is notorious as an attempt to establish a value of mathematical constant by legislative fiat.
The bill was passed by the Indiana House of Representatives, but rejected by the Senate, and thus it did not
become a law.[221]

In computer culture
In contemporary internet culture, individuals and organizations frequently pay homage to the number π. For
instance, the computer scientist Donald Knuth let the version numbers of his program TeX approach π. The
versions are 3, 3.1, 3.14, and so forth.[222] τ has been added to several programming languages as a predefined
constant.[223][224]

See also
Approximations of π
Chronology of computation of π
List of mathematical constants
:
References

Notes
a. In particular, π is conjectured to be a normal number, which implies a specific kind of statistical randomness
on its digits in all bases.

b. The precise integral that Weierstrass used was Remmert 2012, p. 148

c. The polynomial shown is the first few terms of the Taylor series expansion of the sine function.

Citations
1. Andrews, Askey & Roy 1999, p. 59.
2. Gupta, R. C. (1992). "On the remainder term in the Madhava–Leibniz's series". Ganita Bharati. 14 (1–4):
68–71.
3. Jones, William (1706). Synopsis Palmariorum Matheseos (https://archive.org/details/SynopsisPalmariorum
MatheseosOrANewIntroductionToTheMathematics/page/n283/). London: J. Wale. pp. 243 (https://archive.or
g/details/SynopsisPalmariorumMatheseosOrANewIntroductionToTheMathematics/page/n261/), 263 (https://
archive.org/details/SynopsisPalmariorumMatheseosOrANewIntroductionToTheMathematics/page/n283/).
p. 263: "There are various other ways of finding the Lengths, or Areas of particular Curve Lines or Planes,
which may very much facilitate the Practice; as for instance, in the Circle, the Diameter is to Circumference
as 1 to

3.14159, &c. = π. This Series (among others for the same purpose, and drawn from the same Principle) I
receiv'd from the Excellent Analyst, and my much Esteem'd Friend Mr. John Machin; and by means thereof,
Van Ceulen's Number, or that in Art. 64.38. may be Examin'd with all desireable Ease and Dispatch."

Reprinted in Smith, David Eugene (1929). "William Jones: The First Use of π for the Circle Ratio" (https://arc
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Sources
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Springer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-540-66572-4. Retrieved 5 June 2013. English translation by Catriona and
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Boyer, Carl B.; Merzbach, Uta C. (1991). A History of Mathematics (https://archive.org/details/historyofmathema
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Dym, H.; McKean, H. P. (1972). Fourier series and integrals. Academic Press.
Eymard, Pierre; Lafon, Jean Pierre (2004). The Number π. Translated by Wilson, Stephen. American
Mathematical Society. ISBN 978-0-8218-3246-2. English translation of Autour du nombre π (in French).
Hermann. 1999.
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Remmert, Reinhold (2012). "Ch. 5 What is π?" (https://books.google.com/books?id=Z53SBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1
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Further reading
Blatner, David (1999). The Joy of π. Walker & Company. ISBN 978-0-8027-7562-7.
Delahaye, Jean-Paul (1997). Le fascinant nombre π. Paris: Bibliothèque Pour la Science. ISBN 2-902918-25-9.

External links
Weisstein, Eric W. "Pi" (https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Pi.html). MathWorld.
Demonstration by Lambert (1761) of irrationality of π, online (https://www.bibnum.education.fr/mathematiqu
:
 es/theorie-des-nombres/lambert-et-l-irrationalite-de-p-1761) and analysed BibNum (https://www.bibnum.edu
cation.fr/sites/default/files/24-lambert-analysis.pdf) (PDF).
π Search Engine (http://pisearch.org/pi) 2 billion searchable digits of π, e and √2

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