his article is about the number . For the Greek letter, see Pi (letter).

For other uses of pi, , and , see Pi (disambiguation).

Part of a series of articles on the

mathematical constant

Uses

Area of disk

Circumference Use in other formulae Properties

Irrationality

Transcendence Value

Less than 22/7

Approximations Memorization People

Archimedes

Liu Hui

Zu Chongzhi

Madhava of Sangamagrama William Jones

John Machin John Wrench

Ludolph van Ceulen

Aryabhata History

Chronology

Book In culture

Legislation

Holiday

Related topics

Squaring the circle

Basel problem Feynman point

Other topics related to

The number pi (symbol: ) /pa/ is a mathematical constant that is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, and is approximately equal to 3.14159. It has been represented by the Greek letter "" since the mid-18th century, though it is also sometimes written as pi. is an irrational number, which means that it cannot be expressed exactly as a ratio of any two integers (fractions such as 22/7 are commonly used to approximate ; no fraction can be its exact value); consequently, its decimal representation never ends and never settles into a permanent repeating pattern. The digits appear to be randomly distributed, although no proof of this has yet been discovered. is a transcendental number a number that is not the root of any

nonzero polynomial having rational coefficients. The transcendence of implies that it is impossible to solve the ancient challenge of squaring the circle with a compass and straight-edge. For thousands of years, mathematicians have attempted to extend their understanding of , sometimes by computing its value to a high degree of accuracy. Before the 15th century, mathematicians such as Archimedes and Liu Hui used geometrical techniques, based on polygons, to estimate the value of . Starting around the 15th century, new algorithms based on infinite series revolutionized the computation of , and were used by mathematicians including Madhava of Sangamagrama, Isaac Newton, Leonhard Euler, Carl Friedrich Gauss, and Srinivasa Ramanujan. In the 20th and 21st centuries, mathematicians and computer scientists discovered new approaches that when combined with increasing computational power extended the decimal 13 [1] representation of to, as of late 2011, over 10 trillion (10 ) digits. Scientific applications generally require no more than 40 digits of , so the primary motivation for these computations is the human desire to break records, but the extensive calculations involved have been used to test supercomputers and high-precision multiplication algorithms. Because its definition relates to the circle, is found in many formulae in trigonometry and geometry, especially those concerning circles, ellipses, or spheres. It is also found in formulae from other branches of science, such as cosmology, number theory, statistics, fractals, thermodynamics, mechanics, and electromagnetism. The ubiquitous nature of makes it one of the most widely known mathematical constants, both inside and outside the scientific community: Several books devoted to it have been published; the number is celebrated on Pi Day; and record-setting calculations of the digits of often result in news headlines. Several people have endeavored to memorize the value of with increasing precision, leading to records of over 67,000 digits.
Contents
[hide]

1 Fundamentals

o o o o o

1.1 Definition 1.2 Name 1.3 Properties 1.4 Continued fractions 1.5 Approximate value

2 History

o o o o o

2.1 Antiquity 2.2 Polygon approximation era 2.3 Infinite series 2.4 Irrationality and transcendence 2.5 Computer era and iterative algorithms

o o o
3 Use

2.6 Motivations for computing 2.7 Rapidly convergent series 2.8 Spigot algorithms

o o o o o o

3.1 Geometry and trigonometry 3.2 Complex numbers and analysis 3.3 Number theory and Riemann zeta function 3.4 Physics 3.5 Probability and statistics 3.6 Engineering and geology

4 Outside the sciences

o o

4.1 Memorizing digits 4.2 In popular culture

5 See also 6 Notes 7 Further reading 8 External links

Fundamentals
Definition

The circumference of a circle is slightly more than three times as long as its diameter. The exact ratio is called .

is commonly defined as the ratio of a circle's circumference C to its diameter d:[2]

The ratio C/d 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 C/d. This definition of implicitly makes use of flat (Euclidean) geometry; although the notion of a circle can be extended to any curved (non-Euclidean) geometry, these new circles will no [2] longer satisfy the formula = C/d. There are also other definitions of which do not mention [2][3] circles at all, for example: is twice the smallest positive x for which cos(x) equals 0.

Name

Leonhard Euler popularized the use of the Greek letter in works he published in 1736 and 1748.

The symbol used by mathematicians to represent the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter is the Greek letter . That letter (and therefore the number itself) can be denoted by [4] [5] the Latin word pi. In English, is pronounced as "pie" ( /pa/, /pa/). The lower-case letter (or in sans-seriffont) is not to be confused with the capital letter , which denotes a product of a sequence. The earliest known use of the Greek letter to represent the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter was by mathematician William Jones in his 1706 work Synopsis Palmariorum [6] Matheseos; or, a New Introduction to the Mathematics . The Greek letter first appears there in the phrase "1/2 Periphery ()" in the discussion of a circle with radius one. Jones may have [7] chosen because it was the first letter in the Greek spelling of the wordperiphery. However, he writes that his equations for are from the "ready pen of the truly ingenious Mr. John Machin", leading to speculation that Machin may have employed the Greek letter before [8] [8] Jones. It had indeed been used earlier for geometric concepts. William Oughtred used and , the Greek letter equivalents of p and d, to express ratios of periphery and diameter in the 1647 and later editions of Clavis Mathematicae. After Jones introduced the Greek letter in 1706, it was not adopted by other mathematicians until Euler started using it, beginning with his 1736 workMechanica. Before then, [8] mathematicians sometimes used letters such as c or p instead. Because Euler corresponded [8] heavily with other mathematicians in Europe, the use of the Greek letter spread rapidly. In 1748, Euler used in his widely read work Introductio in analysin infinitorum (he wrote: "for the sake of brevity we will write this number as ; thus is equal to half the circumference of a circle of radius 1") and the practice was universally adopted thereafter in theWestern world.
[8]

Properties
is an irrational number, meaning that it cannot be written as the ratio of two integers (fractions such as 22/7 are commonly used to approximate ; no fraction can be its exact [9] value). Since is irrational, it has an infinite number of digits in its decimal representation,
and it does not end with an infinitely repeating pattern of digits. There are several proofs that is irrational; they generally require calculus and rely on the reductio ad absurdum technique. The degree to which 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.
[10]

Because is a transcendental number,squaring the circle is not possible in a finite number of steps using the classical tools ofcompass and straightedge.

is a transcendental number, which means that it is not the solution of any nonconstant polynomial with rational coefficients, such as The transcendence of has two important consequences: First, cannot be expressed using any 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 [13] straightedge alone, a square whose area is equal to the area of a given circle. Squaring a [14] circle was one of the important geometry problems of the classical antiquity. Amateur mathematicians in modern times have sometimes attempted to square the circle, and [15] sometimes claim success, despite the fact that it is impossible. The digits of have no apparent pattern and pass tests for statistical randomness including tests for normality; a number of infinite length is called normal when all possible sequences of [16] digits (of any given length) appear equally often. The hypothesis that is normal has not [16] been proven or disproven. Since the advent of computers, a large number of digits of have been available on which to perform statistical analysis. Yasumasa Kanada has performed detailed statistical analyses on the decimal digits of , and found them consistent with normality; for example, the frequency of the ten digits 0 to 9 were subjected to statistical
[11][12]

significance tests, and no evidence of a pattern was found. Despite the fact that 's digits pass statistical tests for randomness, contains some sequences of digits that may appear
[17]

non-random to non-mathematicians, such as the Feynman point, which is a sequence of six [18] consecutive 9s that begins at the 762nd decimal place of the decimal representation of .

Continued fractions

The constant is represented in thismosaic outside the mathematics building at the Technische Universitt Berlin.

Like all irrational numbers, cannot be represented as a simple fraction. But every irrational number, including , can be represented by an infinite series of nested fractions, called a continued fraction:

A001203 Truncating the continued fraction at any point generates a fraction that provides an approximation for ; two such fractions (22/7 and 355/113) have been used historically to approximate the constant. Each approximation generated in this way is a best rational approximation; that is, each is closer to than any other fraction with the same or a smaller [19] denominator. Although the simple continued fraction for (shown above) does not exhibit a pattern, mathematicians have discovered several generalized continued [21] fractions that do, such as:
[20]

Approximate value
Some approximations of include:

Fractions: Approximate fractions include (in order of increasing [19] accuracy) 227 , 333106 , 355113 , 5216316604 , and 10399333102 . Decimal: The first 100 decimal digits are 3.14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 37510 58209 74944 59230 78164 06286 20899 86280 [22] 34825 34211 70679 .... A000796 Binary: 11.001001000011111101101010100010001000010110100011 .... Hexadecimal: The base 16 approximation to 20 digits [23] is 3.243F6A8885A308D31319 .... Sexagesimal: A base 60 approximation is 3:8:29:44:1

History
See also: Chronology of computation of

Antiquity
The Great Pyramid at Giza, constructed c. 25892566 BC, was built with a perimeter of about 1760 cubits and a height of about 280 cubits; the ratio 1760/280 6.2857 is approximately equal to 2 6.2832. Based on this ratio, some Egyptologists concluded that the pyramid builders had knowledge of and deliberately designed the pyramid to incorporate the proportions of a circle. Others maintain that the suggested relationship to is merely a coincidence, because there is no evidence that the pyramid builders had any knowledge of , and because the dimensions of the pyramid are based on other factors.
[25] [24]

The earliest written approximations of are found in Egypt and Babylon, both within 1 percent of the true value. In Babylon, a clay tablet dated 19001600 BC has a [26] geometrical statement that, by implication, treats as 25/8 = 3.1250. In Egypt, the Rhind Papyrus, dated around 1650 BC, but copied from a document dated to 2 [26] 1850 BC has a formula for the area of a circle that treats as (16/9) 3.1605. In India around 600 BC, the Shulba Sutras (Sanskrit texts that are rich in mathematical 2 [27] contents) treat as (9785/5568) 3.088. In 150 BC, or perhaps earlier, Indian [28] sources treat as 3.1622. Two verses in the Hebrew Bible (written between the 8th and 3rd centuries BC) describe a ceremonial pool in the Temple of Solomon with a diameter of ten cubits and a circumference of thirty cubits; the verses imply is about three if the pool is circular. Rabbi Nehemiah explained the discrepancy as being due to the thickness of the vessel. His early work of geometry, Mishnat ha-Middot, was written around 150 AD and takes the value of to be three and one seventh.
[31] [29][30]

See Approximations of #Imputed biblical value.

Polygon approximation era

 can be estimated by computing the perimeters of circumscribed and inscribed polygons. The first recorded algorithm for rigorously calculating the value of was a geometrical approach using polygons, devised around 250 BC by the Greek [32] mathematician Archimedes. This polygonal algorithm dominated for over 1,000 years, and as a result is sometimes referred to as "Archimedes' [33] constant". Archimedes computed upper and lower bounds of by drawing a regular 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 [34] polygons, he proved that 223/71 < < 22/7 (3.1408 < < 3.1429). Archimedes' upper bound of 22/7 may have led to a widespread popular belief that is equal to 22/7. Around 150 AD, Greek-Roman scientistPtolemy, in his Almagest, gave a value for of 3.1416, which he may have obtained from Archimedes or from Apollonius of [36] Perga. Mathematicians using polygonal algorithms reached 39 digits of in 1630, a record only broken in 1699 when infinite series were used to reach 71 digits.
[37] [35]

Archimedes developed the polygonal approach to approximating .

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

(100 AD,
[38]

approximately 3.1623), and 142/45 (3rd century, approximately 3.1556). 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 obtain a value [39][40] of of 3.1416. Liu later invented a faster method of calculating and obtained a value of 3.14 with a 96-sided polygon, by taking advantage of the fact that the differences in area of successive polygons form a geometric series with a factor

of 4. The Chinese mathematician Zu Chongzhi, around 480 AD, calculated that 355/113 (a fraction that goes by the name Mil in Chinese), using Liu Hui's algorithm applied to a 12,288-sided polygon. With a correct value for its seven first decimal digits, this value of 3.141592920... remained the most accurate approximation [41] of available for the next 800 years. The Indian astronomer Aryabhata used a value of 3.1416 in his ryabhaya (499 [42] AD). Fibonacci in c. 1220 computed 3.1418 using a polygonal method, independent [43] of Archimedes. Italian author Dante apparently employed the [43] value 3.14142. The Persian astronomer Jamshd al-Ksh produced 16 digits in 1424 using a polygon 28 [44][45] [46] with 32 sides, which stood as the world record for about 180 years. French mathematician Franois Vite in 1579 achieved 9 digits with a polygon of 17 [46] 32 sides. Flemish mathematician Adriaan van Roomen arrived at 15 decimal [46] places in 1593. In 1596, Dutch mathematician Ludolph van Ceulen reached 20 digits, a record he later increased to 35 digits (as a result, was called the "Ludolphian number" in Germany until the early 20th century). Dutch scientist Willebrord [48] Snellius reached 34 digits in 1621, and Austrian astronomer Christoph [49] Grienberger arrived at 38 digits in 1630, which remains the most accurate [48] approximation manually achieved using polygonal algorithms.
[47]

[39]

Infinite series
The calculation of was revolutionized by the development of infinite series techniques in the 16th and 17th centuries. An infinite series is the sum of the [50] terms of an infinite sequence. Infinite series allowed mathematicians to compute with much greater precision than Archimedes and others who used [50] geometrical techniques. Although infinite series were exploited for most notably by European mathematicians such as James Gregory and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the [51] approach was first discovered in India sometime between 1400 and 1500 AD. The first written description of an infinite series that could be used to compute was laid out in Sanskrit verse by Indian astronomer Nilakantha Somayaji in [52] his Tantrasamgraha, around 1500 AD. The series are presented without proof, but proofs are presented in a later Indian work, Yuktibh, from around 1530 AD. Nilakantha attributes the series to an earlier Indian mathematician, Madhava of [52] Sangamagrama, who lived c. 1350 c. 1425. Several infinite series are described, including series for sine, tangent, and cosine, which are now referred to as [52] the Madhava series or GregoryLeibniz series. Madhava used infinite series to estimate to 11 digits around 1400, but that record was beaten around 1430 by the Persian mathematician Jamshd al-Ksh, using a polygonal algorithm.
[53]

Isaac Newton used infinite series to compute to 15 digits, later writing "I am ashamed to tell you to how many figures I carried these computations". [54]

The first infinite sequence discovered in Europe was an infinite product (rather than an infinite sum, which are more typically used in calculations) found by French mathematician Franois Vite in 1593:
[55]

A060294 The second infinite sequence found in Europe, by John Wallis in 1655, was also [55] an infinite product. The discovery of calculus, by English scientist Isaac Newton and German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in the 1660s, led to the development of many infinite series for approximating . Newton himself used an arcsin series to compute a 15 digit approximation of in 1665 or 1666, later writing "I am ashamed to tell you to how many figures I carried these [54] computations, having no other business at the time." In Europe, Madhava's formula was rediscovered by Scottish [56][57] mathematician James Gregory in 1671, and by Leibniz in 1674:

This formula, the GregoryLeibniz series, equals when evaluated [57] with z = 1. In 1699, English mathematician Abraham Sharp used the GregoryLeibniz series to compute to 71 digits, breaking the previous record of 39 digits, which was set with a polygonal algorithm. The Gregory Leibniz series is simple, but converges very slowly (that is, approaches the [59] answer gradually), so it is not used in modern calculations. In 1706 John Machin used the GregoryLeibniz series to produce an [60] algorithm that converged much faster:
[58]

Machin reached 100 digits of with this formula. Other mathematicians created variants, now known as Machin-like formulae, that were used to [61] set several successive records for digits. Machin-like formulae remained the best-known method for calculating well into the age of
[61]

computers, and were used to set records for 250 years, culminating in a 620-digit approximation in 1946 by Daniel Ferguson the best [62] approximation achieved without the aid of a calculating device. A remarkable record was set by the calculating prodigy Zacharias Dase, who in 1844 employed a Machin-like formula to calculate 200 decimals of in his head at the behest of German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss. British mathematician William Shanks famously took 15 years to calculate to 707 digits, but made a mistake in the 528th digit, rendering all subsequent digits incorrect.
[63] [63]

Rate of convergence
Some infinite series for converge faster than others. Given the choice of two infinite series for , mathematicians will generally use the one that converges more rapidly because faster convergence reduces the amount [64] of computation needed to calculate to any given accuracy. A simple [65] infinite series for is the GregoryLeibniz series:

As individual terms of this infinite series are added to the sum, the total gradually gets closer to , and with a sufficient number of terms can get as close to as desired. It converges quite slowly, though after 500,000 terms, it produces only five correct decimal [66] digits of . An infinite series for (published by Nilakantha in the 15th century) that converges more rapidly than the GregoryLeibniz series is:
[67]

The following table compares the convergence rates of these two series: Afte After After After After r 1st Conver 2nd 3rd 4th 5th ter ges to: term term term term m

Infinite series for

4.00 2.666 3.466 2.895 3.339 00 6... 6... 2... 6...

3.00 3.166 3.133 3.145 3.139 00 6... 3... 2... 6...

= 3.1415. ..

After five terms, the sum of the GregoryLeibniz series is within 0.2 of the correct value of , whereas the sum of Nilakantha's series is within 0.002 of the correct value of . Nilakantha's series converges faster and is more useful for computing digits of . Series that converge even faster include Machin's series and Chudnovsky's series, the latter producing 14 correct [64] decimal digits per term.

Irrationality and transcendence

Not all mathematical advances relating to 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 and the prime numbers that later contributed to the development and study of the Riemann zeta function:
[68]

Swiss scientist Johann Heinrich Lambert in 1761 proved that is irrational, meaning it is not equal to the quotient of any two whole numbers. Lambert's proof exploited a continued-fraction representation of the tangent [69] function. French mathematician Adrien-Marie 2 Legendre proved in 1794 that is also irrational. In 1882, German mathematician Ferdinand von Lindemann proved that is transcendental, confirming a conjecture made by both Legendre and Euler.
[70] [9]

Computer era and iterative algorithms

John von Neumann was part of the team that first used a digital computer, ENIAC, to compute .

The GaussLegendre iterative algorithm: Initialize

Iterate

Then an estimate for is given by

The development of computers in the mid20th century again revolutionized the hunt for digits of . American mathematicians John Wrench and Levi Smith reached 1,120 digits in 1949 using a [71] desk calculator. 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 [72] the ENIAC computer. The record, always relying on an arctan series, was broken repeatedly (7,480 digits in 1957; 10,000 digits in 1958; 100,000 digits in

1961) until 1 million digits was reached in [73] 1973. Two additional developments around 1980 once again accelerated the ability to compute . First, the discovery of new iterative algorithms for computing , which were much faster than the infinite series; and second, the invention of fast multiplication algorithms that could multiply [74] large numbers very rapidly. Such algorithms are particularly important in modern computations, because most of the computer's time is devoted to [75] multiplication. They include theKaratsuba algorithm, ToomCook multiplication, and Fourier transform-based [76] methods. The iterative algorithms were independently published in 19751976 by American physicist Eugene Salamin and [77] Australian scientist Richard Brent. 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 arithmeticgeometric mean method (AGM method) or Gauss [77] Legendre algorithm. As modified by Salamin and Brent, it is also referred to as the BrentSalamin 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 BrentSalamin algorithm doubles the number of

digits in each iteration. In 1984, the Canadian 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 [78] step. Iterative methods were used by Japanese mathematician Yasumasa Kanada to set several records for computing between 1995 and 2002. This rapid convergence comes at a price: the iterative algorithms require significantly more memory than infinite [79] series.
[79]

Motivations for computing

As mathematicians discovered new algorithms, and computers became available, the number of known decimal digits of increased dramatically.

For most numerical calculations involving , a handful of digits provide sufficient precision. According to Jrg Arndt and Christoph Haenel, thirty-nine digits are sufficient to perform most cosmological calculations, because that is the accuracy necessary to calculate the volume of the known universe with a [80] precision of one atom. Despite this, people have worked strenuously to compute to thousands and millions of digits.
[81]

This effort may be partly ascribed

to the human compulsion to break records, and such achievements with often make headlines around the world. They also have practical benefits, such as testing supercomputers, testing numerical analysis algorithms (includinghighprecision multiplication algorithms); and within pure mathematics itself, providing data for evaluating the randomness of the [84] digits of .
[82][83]

Rapidly convergent series

Srinivasa Ramanujan, working in isolation in India, produced many innovative series for computing .

Modern 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 [79] intensive. The fast iterative algorithms were anticipated in 1914, when the Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan published dozens of innovative new formulae for , remarkable for their elegance, mathematical depth, and rapid [85] convergence. One of his formulae, based on modular equations:

This series converges much more rapidly than most arctan series, [86] including Machin's formula. Bill Gosper was the first to use it for advances in the calculation of , setting a record of 17 million digits in [87] 1985. Ramanujan's formulae anticipated the modern algorithms developed by the Borwein brothers and the Chudnovsky [88] brothers. The Chudnovsky formula developed in 1987 is

It produces about 14 digits [89] of per term, and has been used for several recordsetting calculations, including the first to surpass (10 ) digits in 1989 by the Chudnovsky brothers, 12 2.7 trillion (2.710 ) digits by Fabrice Bellard in 2009, and 10 13 trillion (10 ) digits in 2011 by Alexander Yee and Shigeru [90][1] Kondo. In 2006, Canadian mathematician Simon Plouffe used the PSLQ integer [91] relation algorithm to generate several new formulae for , conforming to the following template:
9

where is e (Gelfond's constant), is an odd number, and are

certain rational numbers that [92] Plouffe computed.

Spigot algorithms
Two algorithms were discovered in 1995 that opened up new avenues of research into . They are called spigot algorithms because, like water dripping from aspigot, they produce single digits of that are not reused after they are [93][94] calculated. This is in contrast to infinite series or iterative algorithms, which retain and use all intermediate digits until the final result is [93] produced. American mathematicians Stan Wagon and Stanley Rabinowitz produced a simple spigot algorithm in [94][95][96] 1995. Its speed is comparable to arctan algorithms, but not as fast as [95] iterative algorithms. Another spigot algorithm, the BBP digit extraction algorithm, was discovered in [97][98] 1995 by Simon Plouffe:

This formula, unlike others before it, can produce any individual hexadecimal di git of without calculating all the preceding [97] digits. Individual octal o r binary digits may be extracted from the

hexadecimal digits. Variations of the algorithm have been discovered, but no digit extraction algorithm has yet been found that rapidly produces decimal [99] digits. An important application of digit extraction algorithms is to validate new claims of record 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 [1] correct. Between 1998 and 2000, the distributed computing project PiHex used Bellard's formula (a modification of the BBP algorithm) to compute the 15 quadrillionth (10 th) bit of , which turned out to be 0. In September 2010, a Yahoo! employee used the company's Hadoop applic ation on one thousand computers over a 23-day period to compute 256 bits of at the twoquadrillionth (210 th) bit, which also happens to [101] be zero.
15 [100]

Use
Main article: List of formulae involving Because 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. Formulae from other branches of science also include in some of their important formulae, including sciences such as statistics, fractals, thermodynamics, mechanics, cosmology, number theory, and electromagnetism.

Geometry and trigonometry

The area of the circle equals times the shaded area.

appears in formulae for

areas and volumes of geometrical shapes

based on circles, such as ellipses, spheres, cone s, and tori. Some of the more common formulae [102] that involve : The circumference of a circle with radius r is The area of a circle with radius r is The volume of a sphere with radius r is The surface area of a sphere with radius r is

appears in definite
integrals that describe circumference, area, or volume of shapes generated by circles. For example, an integral that specifies half the area of a circle of radius one is [103] given by:

In that integral the function repr esents the top half of a circle (the square root is a consequence of the Pythagorean theorem), and the integral compute s the area between that half a circle and the x axis.

Sine and cosine func tions repeat with period 2.

The trigonometric functions rely on angles, and mathematicians generally use radians as units of measurement. play s an important role in angles measured in radians, which are defined so that a complete circle spans an angle of [104] 2 radians. The angle measure of 180 is equal to radians, and 1 [104] = /180 radians. Common trigonometric functions have periods that are multiples of ; for example, sine and cosine have period [105] 2, so for any angle and any integer k, an d
[105]

Monte Carlo methods

Buffon's needle. Needles a and bare dropped randomly.

Random dots are placed on the quadrant of a square with a circle inscribed in it. Monte Carlo methods, based on random trials, can be used to approximate .

Monte Carlo methods, which evaluate the results of multiple random trials, can be used to create approximations [106] of . Buffon's needle is one such technique: If a needle of length 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 crossing a line (x > 0), then one may approximate based on the counts:
[107]

Another Monte Carlo method for computing 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 [108] equal Monte Carlo methods for approximating are very slow compared to other methods, and are never used to approximate w hen speed or accuracy are [109] desired.

Complex numbers and analysis

The association between imaginary powers of the number e and p oints on theunit circle centered at the origin in thecomplex plane given by Euler's formula.

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 ) to

represent a counterclockwise rotatio n from the positive real line [110] as follows:

where i is the imaginar y unit satisfyin 2 g i = 1. The frequent appearance of in compl ex analysis can be related to the behavior of the exponent ial function of a complex variable, described by Euler's [111] formula:

where th e constant e is the base of the natu ral logarith m. This formula establis hes a corresp ondence

between imaginar y powers of e and points on theunit circle ce ntered at the origin of the complex plane. Setting = in Euler's formula results in Euler' s identity, celebrat ed by mathem aticians because it contains the five most importa nt mathem atical constant [111][112] s:

The re are n dif fere

nt c omp lex num bers zs atisf ying

, and thes e are call ed the "nth r oots of unit [1 y". 13] T hey are give n by this for mul a:

C a u c h y ' s i

n t e g r a l f o r m u l a g o v e r n s c o m p l e x a n a l y t i c f u n c

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e b o u n d a r y :
[ 1 1 4 ] [ 1 1 5 ]

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M a n d e l b r o t

s e t ,

b y

c o u n t i n g

t h e

n u m b e r

o f

i t e r a t i o n s

r e q u

i r e d

b e f o r e

p o i n t

( 0 . 7 5 ,

d i v e r g e s .

A n o c c u r r e n c e o f

i n t h e M a n d e l b r o t s e t f r a c

t a l w a s d i s c o v e r e d b y A m e r i c a n D a v i d B o l l i n

1 9 9 1 .
[ 1 1 6 ]

H e e x a m i n e d t h e b e h a v i o r o f t h e M a

n d e l b r o t s e t n e a r t h e " n e c k " a t ( 0 . 7 5 , 0 ) . I

f p o i n t s w i t h c o o r d i n a t e s ( 0 . 7 5 , ) a r e c o n s

i d e r e d , a s t e n d s t o z e r o , t h e n u m b e r o f i t e

r a t i o n s u n t i l d i v e r g e n c e f o r t h e p o i n t m u l t i p

l i e d b y c o n v e r g e s t o

. T h e p o i n t ( 0 . 2 5 , )

a t t h e c u s p o f t h e l a r g e " v a l l e y " o n t h e r i g

h t s i d e o f t h e M a n d e l b r o t s e t b e h a v e s s i m i l a r

l y : t h e n u m b e r o f i t e r a t i o n s u n t i l d i v e r g e n c e

m u l t i p l i e d b y t h e s q u a r e r o o t o f t e n d s t o


.
[ 1 1 6 ] [ 1 1 7 ]

T h e g a m m a f u n c t i o n e x t e n d s t h e

c o n c e p t o f f a c t o r i a l w h i c h i s n o r m a l l y d e f i

n e d o n l y f o r w h o l e n u m b e r s t o a l l r e a l n u m b

e r s . W h e n t h e g a m m a f u n c t i o n i s e v a l u a t e d a t

h a l f i n t e g e r s , t h e r e s u l t c o n t a i n s

; f o r e x a

m p l e

a n d

.
[ 1 1 8 ]

T h e g a m m a f u n c t i o n c a n b e

u s e d t o c r e a t e a s i m p l e a p p r o x i m a t i o n t o

f o

r l a r g e

w h i c h i s k n o w n a s S t i r l i n g ' s a p p

r o x i m a t i o n .
[ 1 1 9 ]

N u m b e r t h e o r y a n d R i e m a n n

z e t a f u n c t i o n
T h e R i e m a n n z e t a f u n c t i o n ( s )

i s u s e d i n m a n y a r e a s o f m a t h e m a t i c s . W h e n e v

a l u a t e d a t

i t c a n b e w r i t t e n a s

F i n d i n g a

s i m p l e s o l u t i o n f o r t h i s i n f i n i t e s e r i e s w a s

a f a m o u s p r o b l e m i n m a t h e m a t i c s c a l l e d t h e B

a s e l p r o b l e m . L e o n h a r d E u l e r s o l v e d i t i n 1 7 3

5 w h e n h e s h o w e d i t w a s e q u a l t o

.
[ 6 8 ]

E u l e r

' s r e s u l t l e a d s t o t h e n u m b e r t h e o r y r e s u l t t

h a t t h e p r o b a b i l i t y o f t w o r a n d o m n u m b e r s b e i

n g r e l a t i v e l y p r i m e ( t h a t i s , h a v i n g n o s h a r e

d f a c t o r s ) i s e q u a l t o

.
[ 1 2 0 ] [ 1 2 1 ]

T h i s p r o b

a b i l i t y i s b a s e d o n t h e o b s e r v a t i o n t h a t t h e

p r o b a b i l i t y t h a t a n y n u m b e r i s d i v i s i b l e b y a

p r i m e

i s

( f o r e x a m p l e , e v e r y 7 t h i n t e g e r

i s d i v i s i b l e b y 7 . ) H e n c e t h e p r o b a b i l i t y t h

a t t w o n u m b e r s a r e b o t h d i v i s i b l e b y t h i s p r i

m e i s

, a n d t h e p r o b a b i l i t y t h a t a t l e a s t o n

e o f t h e m i s n o t i s

. F o r d i s t i n c t p r i m e s , t

h e s e d i v i s i b i l i t y e v e n t s a r e m u t u a l l y i n d e p e n

d e n t ; s o t h e p r o b a b i l i t y t h a t t w o n u m b e r s a r e

r e l a t i v e l y p r i m e i s g i v e n b y a p r o d u c t o v e r

a l l p r i m e s :
[ 1 2 2 ]

T h i s p r o b a b i l i t y c a n b e

u s e d i n c o n j u n c t i o n w i t h a r a n d o m n u m b e r g e n e

r a t o r t o a p p r o x i m a t e

u s i n g a M o n t e C a r l o a p

p r o a c h .
[ 1 2 3 ]

P h y s i c s
A l t h o u g h n o t a p h y s i c a l

c o n s t a n t ,

a p p e a r s r o u t i n e l y i n e q u a t i o n s d e

s c r i b i n g f u n d a m e n t a l p r i n c i p l e s o f t h e u n i v e r

s e , o f t e n b e c a u s e o f

' s r e l a t i o n s h i p t o t h e

c i r c l e a n d t o s p h e r i c a l c o o r d i n a t e s y s t e m s . A

s i m p l e f o r m u l a f r o m t h e f i e l d o f c l a s s i c a l m

e c h a n i c s g i v e s t h e a p p r o x i m a t e p e r i o d

T
o f a

s i m p l e p e n d u l u m o f l e n g t h

L
, s w i n g i n g w i t h a

s m a l l a m p l i t u d e (

g
i s t h e e a r t h ' s g r a v i t a t i o n

a l a c c e l e r a t i o n ) :
[ 1 2 4 ]

O n e o f t h e k e y f o r

m u l a e o f q u a n t u m m e c h a n i c s i s H e i s e n b e r g ' s u n

c e r t a i n t y p r i n c i p l e , w h i c h s h o w s t h a t t h e u n c

e r t a i n t y i n t h e m e a s u r e m e n t o f a p a r t i c l e ' s p

o s i t i o n (

x
) a n d m o m e n t u m (

p
) c a n n o t b o t h b e

a r b i t r a r i l y s m a l l a t t h e s a m e t i m e ( w h e r e

i s P l a n c k ' s c o n s t a n t ) :
[ 1 2 5 ]