commands → pi

pi()

The pi command returns an approximation to pi.

Examples

# hardware floats
pi();
        3.14159265358979
# software floats
digits(30);
        30
pi();
        3.14159265358979323846264338327

Algorithm

To approximate pi in extended precision we use the Gauss-Legendre algorithm.

References

The Gauss-Legendre Algorithm on Wikipedia
Gullberg, Jan. Mathematics: From the Birth of Numbers. Norton, 1996.