Pi Pages on the Web

Web pages come and go, but we try to keep the following list up to date. If you find a link that doesn't work, please let us know.

Basic Information
Pi History
Calculating Pi and Digits of Pi
Pi and Mathematics
Memorizing Pi
Pi Mysteries
Pi in Music
Fun with Pi
Wacky Pi Stuff
Pi Clubs
Pi Links
Pi Pages in Other Languages

Basic Information

BBC Article About Pi

David Blatner, author of The Joy of Pi, wrote a short article about pi for the BBC in England.The Many Digits of Pi If you want to download digits of pi, check out these sites:

Here's the first ten thousand digits of pi, for your reading pleasure
One Million Digits from Project Gutenberg (1.3 MB text file download)
Up to 50 million digits from Simon Fraser University

The Pi Pages
Updates to The Pi Pages

"The story of pi reflects the most seminal, the most serious and sometimes the silliest aspects of mathematics." So say Lennart Berggren, Jonathan Borwein and Peter Borwein in their new book, Pi : A Source Book. Their Web site offers comprehensive pi links and meat for the mathematically minded.

The Ridiculously Enchanced Pi Page

Come celebrate National Pi Day (March 14, of course) at the Exploratorium. Find out how to participate on what is also Einstein's birthday! John Tierney also wrote a nice piece about pi day at The New York Times.

Pi: The Movie

The Web companion to Darren Aronofsky's fascinating film "Pi". You can also find information and links about the stock market, Kabbalah, migranes, and a number of other topics relating to the movie. You can also read a short article about this movie written by Joy of Pi author, David Blatner, published in The Seattle Weekly.

Elias' Pi Page

Along with pi fun and facts, you'll also find the binary decimal expansion of pi. From the binary coding you can also see and hear pi -- a great twist!

Paul's Page of Pi

A well designed, informative site focused on how to calculate pi.

Pi Approximation Day

Find out what pi approximation day is, and how to celebrate it!

Pi Approximation Contest

Did you know that 3 + 4/28 - 1/(790 + 5/6) is ia pretty good approximation of pi? Not only that, but it uses all the digits between zero and nine! Check out more cool approximations and submit your own to the contest!

History

Pi Through the Ages

How did the theory of pi evolve? Who devoted their lives to calculating digits of pi? From the Bible to Buffon, this site explores human exploration of the number pi.

Indiana Pi

The story is told in some depth in The Joy of Pi, but here's some more on Indiana's attempts to round up pi.

Yet Another Story of PI

A short history by Lazarus Mudehwe, with links to the Albany Pi Fan Club

Calculating Pi and Digits of Pi

The Bailey - Borwein - Plouffe Pi Algorithm

Here is the formula that allowed David Bailey, Peter Borwein and Simon Plouffe to compute the ten billioneth digit in the hexadecimal expansion of pi. If you are "non-technical" there's an explanation for you too!

How to Compute Digits of Pi

Want to test your computer's strength? Check here if you want to know more about computing pi. Look for the section entitled, "Special Numbers and Functions" and click on the section for computing pi. A little further down, under "Human Interest" is a section on the Indiana legislatin of pi. More on how to compute here.

Download Billions and Billions of Digits

Yasumasa Kanada (University of Tokyo) offers files for 4,200,000,000 digits of both pi and 1/pi for anyone. To get more digits than that (you want more?) you'll need to register. There are also updates on latest records and other information.

One Billion Digits of PI

Pi explorers and authors Bailey and the Borwein brothers offer up an article "Ramanujan, Modular Equations, and Approximations to Pi or How to Compute One Billion Digits of Pi" in an effort to follow up on part of Ramanujan's work.

Pi and the Fibonnaci Numbers

A great description of how to calculate pi based on the Fibonnaci numbers. Background information and explanations are available.

Calculus Graphics

Check out how the professor uses Archimedes' method of calculating pi to highlight and illuminate the study of calculus.

Squaring the Circle

A new and curious method for calculating the digits of pi.

Pi and Mathematics

Pi and Other Constants

Peter Borwein's home page offers many papers that describe computations of familiar transcendentals. One paper is in html , others are available in postscript. One paper details how to compute individual binary digits of Pi in Fortran (code available on site).

Article: A Two Thousand Year Search for Pi Changes Direction

A discussion of the Bailey, Borwein Plouffe Algorithm written by Victor Adamchik and Stan Wagon.

Ask Dr. Math: Middle School Level PI

This is a great place to see what questions about pi Dr. Math has fielded in the past, and to ask any questions about pi that you might have. A great resource for anyone who wants to know more about pi. You can also check out the Pi FAQ organized http://forum.swarthmore.edu/dr.math/faq/faq.pi.html

Synergetics

If you enjoy exploring the theories of Buckminster Fuller and wonder if it is possible to devlop an operational pi, you'll enjoy this site.

Pi Page

A great, up to date site by Eric W. Weisstein for comparing various calculations of pi and getting a grounding in history. Mathematically challenging, geared for those who can find their way around equations. [Note: Currently Closed Due to Lawsuit.]

Buffon's Needle

A good look at this classic probability problem and its relationship to pi.

Proof that Pi Exists

Ilan Vardi asks an interesting question: How can we prove that pi (as a constant) actually exists?

Memorizing Pi

Olle's Pi Page

Olle offers up a variety of pi related material, including his technique for memorizing pi and pictures of pi tatoos.

Pi World Record Holders

A list of record-holders in the "pi memorization sport."

Naked Science Memorizes Pi

As Michael Curtis points out, "You don't have to be an evil genius to learn pi ... but it helps."

PiPhilology

Antreas P. Hatzipolakis has collected Pi mnemonics from all over the world and Web (ie. sentences to memorize the first digits of pi) and poems related to pi. A great place for those who want to join clubs with pi memorization requirements!

Ivars Peterson's MathLand

As a "loyal member of the Ancient and Honorable Society of Pi Watchers" Ivars Peterson has written many account of this intrepid number. Here he discusses ways of memorizing pi.

The Memory Elixir

Fun and weird!

How PI?

An Indian approach to memorizing pi that is somewhat mysterious, and makes for an interesting read.

Michael Naylor's Memorama

A sparse but fun little page about memorizing pi.

Pseudonumerology

Forget the difference between numbers and words, twist your brain into a pretzel, and delve into Psuedonumerology.

Pi Mysteries

Pi in Music

Charles Lucy describes LucyTuning and how pi relates to 'the natural scale of music,' including references to John "Longitude" Harrison's work on the subject.

Pi in the Bible

Check here to find out how the ancients may have encoded the numeric mysteries of the pi in the Bible.

Earth Mysteries: Notes on PI

Explores the mysterious nature of pi, and how it is present in everything from DNA to "superstrings".

Pi Curiosities

Pablo Olivera tells a story in English or Spanish about finding curiosities in pi.

Pi and Music

Pi Symphony

Lars Erickson's orchestral symphony based on the number pi (some of this was also used in The Joy of Pi audio book, published by Random House Audio, available at audible.com).

Listen to Pi

Felix Jung has created a delightful way to convert the first 10,000 digits of pi into music using a Flash-based animation.

Kate Bush Singing Pi

The inimitable Kate Bush includes a song about pi on her new album Aerial, in which she actually sings 100 or so digits of pi. And it's a good song!
Bill Crozier writes: "As an experiment, I tried in 1980 to get pi to 50 places stuck in my head by writing a song about it. It worked. I can still recite it now, 20 years later, by singing the song." You can hear his song by clicking here.

Fun with Pi

American Pi

A very funny spoof on the movies "Pi" and "American Pie." Caution: some adult themes. Of course, it's not funny unless you've also seen those movies.

Eve Andersson's Pi Trivia Game

Sound out the depths of your pi knowledge with Eve Andersson's great trivia game.

Search in 100 million digits of pi

Do you spend sleepless nights wondering where in pi your birthday or phone number show up? Wonder no more! Just type in the number sequence and voila! you'll know.