Questions tagged [pi]

The number $\pi$ is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. Understanding its various properties and computing its numerical value drove the study of much mathematics throughout history. Questions regarding this special number and its properties fit in here.

$\pi$ is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. Its definition is modern analysis is (by Karl Weierstrass) $$ \pi = \int_{-1}^1 \frac{dx}{\sqrt{1-x^2}}. $$ An alternative definition, popularised by Landau is: Define $\frac{\pi}{2}$ as the smallest positive root of the cosine function.

It can also be given by the Gregory-Leibniz series (exhibits sublinear convergence) $$ \pi = 4 \sum_{j=0}^\infty \frac{(-1)^j}{2j+1}. $$ $\pi$ has the approximate numerical value $3.14159265358979323846\dots$, can be approximated by fractions, for example, $\frac{22}{7}, \frac{333}{106}, \frac{355}{113},\dots$, and is both irrational and transcendental.

It is part of Euler's famous identity:

$$e^{i\pi}+1=0.$$

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Ratio of circumference to radius

I know that the ratio of the circumference to the diameter is Pi - what about the ratio of the circumference to the radius? Does it have any practical purpose when we have Pi? Is it called something (other than 2 Pi)?
Odinulf
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Why can't $\pi$ be expressed as a fraction?

Why can't $\pi$ be expressed as a fraction? If pi is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, why can't we simply take a circle, measure its circumference and diameter, and derive the fraction? Say we have a string of some length and…
Manoj
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How to find sequence of digits in pi?

I saw this project on github https://github.com/philipl/pifs, where they are trying to compress files in the pi number after the decimal. I guess this makes sense because apparently every finite sequence of digits exist in the never ending decimal…
omega
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Rational and irrational numbers under base pi

I am wondering, what would happen to the representation of a number like 2 in base pi? I know that things like $π^2$ would simply be 100, but what about numbers that are not of the form $π^n$ ? I think it ought to get tricky!
Just_a_fool
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How accurate are most representations of pi?

I understand that $\pi$ is the ratio of a circle's circumference to it's diameter and it is equal to about 3.14159265359(According to Google) but how accurate is this and most representations of $\pi$?
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Curious coincidence in Tau (base 12) (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 18, 19, 31)

So I was messing around with Tau in base 12 and Mathematica (very amateur), and at some point started converting 5 same digit long base 10 sequences to base 12, and inputing these sequences in a Notepad file with 1,250,000 Tau decimals in base 12.…
someone
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Is the last discovered digit of $\pi$ rounded or not?

Since 2019 about 31.4 trillion decimal places of $\pi$ are known, as someone not having any idea how new digits are discovered, my question is about the last known digit. E.g. if there is a sequence in $\pi$ such as 351989, but only 3 more digits…
hasleron
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Does knowing the nth digit of $\pi$ help in finding the next digit?

Obviously, we can generate as many digits of $\pi$ as we please, but is there any way to make use of knowing digit $n$ when seeking next digit of $\pi$?
J. Mini
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What do people mean when they say that the "Fundamental Theorem of Engineering" is $\pi=3=e$?

I've seen this kind of thing on many sites, that the "Fundamental Theorem of Engineering" is $$\pi=3=e$$ Some of them said this is just a joke. Well, I know $\pi=3,1415926\ldots$ and $e=2,7128128459045\ldots$ Then, what is the idea behind what did…
user516076
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Why is $π$ ubiquitous?

It is not confusing to find $π$ in the area of the circle equation or its circumference, But when I started studying math and physics a little bit deeper, I begin to see $\pi$ in very strange positions for instance: $\sum_{n=1}^∞ \frac {1}{n^2} =…
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rational approximation of $\pi$, where denominator lies in $[a,b]$

In a coding competition, I encountered following question: Given $1\le a,b \le 10^{15}$ , find an integer $Q$ in this range $[a,b]$, such that $P/Q$ is closest to $\pi$. Where $P$ is any suitable integer. Checking convergence for each integer in the…
g-217
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What is the best numerator and denominator couple to get the value of $\pi$?

I need to express the value of $\pi$ as numerator/denominator. What is the best pair considering that the numerator should be less than or equal to $2^{62}$? Or how to get this pair?
Manoj R
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How are the Machin Pi formulas found?

Introduction: Machin formulas obey the general form$$m\cot^{-1}u+n\cot^{-1}v=\frac {k\pi}4$$Where $u,v,k\in\mathbb{Z}^+$ and $m,n$ are nonnegative integers. With the simplest being$$\frac \pi4=\cot^{-1}1\tag1$$And$$\frac \pi4=4\arctan\frac…
Crescendo
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What is the importance of $\pi$ in mathematics?

In what specific fields is $\pi$ relevant in mathematics and how is its accuracy important? Is there any field in which its precision leads to some results despite others?
XCore
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Some interesting results from PI decimals

I was reading some notes about PI and as a typical IT guy I have decided to test some algorithm but before I wanted to check number quantity per decimal length (explanation in next paragraph). For resource I have used:…
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