Pi or is a mathematical constant which represents the ratio of any circle's circumference to its diameter in Euclidean geometry, which is the

e same as the ratio of a circle's area to the square of its radius. It is approximately equal to 3.14159. Pi is one of the most important mathematical constants: many formulae from mathematics, science, and engineering involve .[1] Pi is an irrational number, which means that it cannot be expressed as a fraction m/n, where m and n are integers. Consequently its decimal representation never ends or repeats. Beyond being irrational, it is a transcendental number, which means that no finite sequence of algebraic operations on integers (powers, roots, sums, etc.) could ever produce it. Throughout the history of mathematics, much effort has been made to determine more accurately and understand its nature; fascination with the number has even carried over into culture at large. The Greek letter , often spelled out pi in text, was adopted for the number from the Greek word for perimeter "", probably by William Jones in 1706, and popularized by Leonhard Euler some years later. The constant is occasionally also referred to as the circular constant, Archimedes' constant (not to be confused with an Archimedes number), or Ludolph's number. The constant is an irrational number; that is, it cannot be written as the ratio of two integers. This was proven in 1761 by Johann Heinrich Lambert.[2] In the 20th century, proofs were found that require no prerequisite knowledge beyond integral calculus. One of those, due to Ivan Niven, is widely known.[6][7] A somewhat earlier similar proof is by Mary Cartwright.[8] Furthermore, is also transcendental, as was proven by Ferdinand von Lindemann in 1882. This means that there is no polynomial with rational coefficients of which is a root.[9] An important consequence of the transcendence of is the fact that it is not constructible. Because the coordinates of all points that can be constructed with compass and straightedge are constructible numbers, it is impossible to square the circle: that is, it is impossible to construct, using compass and straightedge alone, a square whose area is equal to the area of a given circle.[10] Because is an irrational number, its decimal expansion never ends and does not repeat. This infinite sequence of digits has fascinated mathematicians and laymen alike, and much effort over the last few centuries has been put into computing more digits and investigating the number's properties.[15] Despite much analytical work, and supercomputer calculations that have determined over 1 trillion digits of , no simple pattern in the digits has ever been found.[16] Digits of are available on many web pages, and there is software for calculating to billions of digits on any personal computer.