The pi command is a command-line tool that calculates the mathematical constant π (pi) to a specified number of decimal places. The calculation of π is based on Archimedes’ method, which involves inscribing and circumscribing polyggonal shapes around a circle and successively increasing the number of sides to estimate the value of π.
The pi command can be used in a variety of environments, including Unix-like systems and Windows command prompt, to quickly compute the value of π to the desired precision. For example, to calculate π to 20 decimal places, you would run the following command:
# pi 20
This would output the following result:
3.1415926535897932384
The pi command is a useful tool for anyone who needs to perform calculations involving π, such as students, researchers, and engineers. Additionally, it is a fun way to explore the properties of the mathematical constant and learn more about the fascinating history of its discovery and computation.
If you encounter the below error while running the command pi:
pi: command not found
you may try installing the below package as per your choice of distribution:
| Distribution | Command |
|---|---|
| Debian | apt-get install pi |
| Ubuntu | apt-get install pi |
| Arch Linux | pacman -S pi |
| Kali Linux | apt-get install pi |
| OS X | brew install pi |
| Raspbian | apt-get install pi |
pi Command Examples
1. Display 100 decimal digits of Archimedes’ constant Pi:
# pi
2. Display a specified number of decimal digits of Archimedes’ constant Pi:
# pi number
3. Display help:
# pi --help
4. Display version:
# pi --version
5. Display recommended readings:
# pi --bibliography