Mathematical constant

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For broader coverage of this topic, see Constant (mathematics).

The circumference of a circle with diameter 1 is π.

A mathematical constant is a key number whose value is fixed by an unambiguous
definition, often referred to by a special symbol (e.g., an alphabet letter), or by
mathematicians' names to facilitate using it across multiple mathematical
problems.[1] Constants arise in many areas of mathematics, with constants such
as e and π occurring in such diverse contexts as geometry, number theory, statistics,
and calculus.

Some constants arise naturally by a fundamental principle or intrinsic property, such

as the ratio between the circumference and diameter of a circle (π). Other constants
are notable more for historical reasons than for their mathematical properties. The
more popular constants have been studied throughout the ages and computed to
many decimal places.

All named mathematical constants are definable numbers, and usually are
also computable numbers (Chaitin's constant being a significant exception).

Basic mathematical constants[edit]

These are constants which one is likely to encounter during pre-college education in
many countries.

Archimedes' constant π[edit]

Main article: Pi
The constant π (pi) has a natural definition in Euclidean geometry as the ratio
between the circumference and diameter of a circle. It may be found in many other
places in mathematics: for example, the Gaussian integral, the complex roots of
unity, and Cauchy distributions in probability. However, its ubiquity is not limited to
pure mathematics. It appears in many formulas in physics, and several physical
constants are most naturally defined with π or its reciprocal factored out. For
example, the ground state wave function of the hydrogen atom is

where is the Bohr radius.

π is an irrational number and a transcendental number.

The numeric value of π is approximately 3.1415926536 (sequence A000796 in

the OEIS). Memorizing increasingly precise digits of π is a world record pursuit.
The imaginary unit i[edit]
Main article: Imaginary unit

The imaginary unit i in the complex plane. Real

numbers lie on the horizontal axis, and imaginary numbers lie on the vertical axis
The imaginary unit or unit imaginary number, denoted as i, is

a mathematical concept which extends the real number system to

the complex number system The imaginary unit's core property is that i2 =
−1. The term "imaginary" was coined because there is no (real) number having a
negative square.

There are in fact two complex square roots of −1, namely i and −i, just as there
are two complex square roots of every other real number (except zero, which has
one double square root).

In contexts where the symbol i is ambiguous or problematic, j or the

Greek iota (ι) is sometimes used. This is in particular the case in electrical
engineering and control systems engineering, where the imaginary unit is often
denoted by j, because i is commonly used to denote electric current.

Euler's number e[edit]

Main article: e (mathematical constant)

Exponential growth (green) describes many physical

phenomena.
Euler's number e, also known as the exponential growth constant, appears in
many areas of mathematics, and one possible definition of it is the value of the
following expression:
The constant e is intrinsically related to the exponential function .

The Swiss mathematician Jacob Bernoulli discovered that e arises

in compound interest: If an account starts at $1, and yields interest at annual
rate R, then as the number of compounding periods per year tends to infinity
(a situation known as continuous compounding), the amount of money at the
end of the year will approach eR dollars.

The constant e also has applications to probability theory, where it arises in a

way not obviously related to exponential growth. As an example, suppose
that a slot machine with a one in n probability of winning is played n times,
then for large n (e.g., one million), the probability that nothing will be won will
tend to 1/e as n tends to infinity.

Another application of e, discovered in part by Jacob Bernoulli along

with French mathematician Pierre Raymond de Montmort, is in the problem
of derangements, also known as the hat check problem.[2] Here, n guests are
invited to a party, and at the door each guest checks his hat with the butler,
who then places them into labelled boxes. The butler does not know the
name of the guests, and hence must put them into boxes selected at random.
The problem of de Montmort is: what is the probability that none of the hats
gets put into the right box. The answer is

which, as n tends to infinity, approaches 1/e.

e is an irrational number.

The numeric value of e is approximately 2.7182818284

(sequence A001113 in the OEIS).

Pythagoras' constant √2 [edit]

Main article: Square root of 2

The square root of 2 is equal to the length of

the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle with legs of length 1.
 The square root of 2, often known as root 2, radical 2, or Pythagoras'
constant, and written as √2 , is the positive algebraic number that, when
multiplied by itself, gives the number 2. It is more precisely called
the principal square root of 2, to distinguish it from the negative number
with the same property.

Geometrically the square root of 2 is the length of a diagonal across

a square with sides of one unit of length; this follows from
the Pythagorean theorem. It was probably the first number known to
be irrational. Its numerical value truncated to 65 decimal places is:

1.414213562373095048801688724209698078569671875376948073176679
73799... (sequence A002193 in the OEIS).

The square root of 2.

Alternatively, the quick approximation 99/70 (≈ 1.41429) for the square
root of two was frequently used before the common use of electronic
calculators and computers. Despite having a denominator of only 70, it
differs from the correct value by less than 1/10,000 (approx. 7.2 ×
10 −5).

Theodorus' constant √3 [edit]

Main article: Square root of 3
The numeric value of √3 is approximately 1.7320508075
(sequence A002194 in the OEIS).

Constants in advanced mathematics[edit]

These are constants which are encountered frequently in higher
mathematics.

The Feigenbaum constants α and δ[edit]

Main article: Feigenbaum constants

Bifurcation diagram of the logistic map.

Iterations of continuous maps serve as the simplest examples of
models for dynamical systems.[3] Named after mathematical
physicist Mitchell Feigenbaum, the two Feigenbaum constants appear
in such iterative processes: they are mathematical invariants of logistic
maps with quadratic maximum points[4] and their bifurcation diagrams.
Specifically, the constant α is the ratio between the width of a tine and
the width of one of its two subtines, and the constant δ is the
limiting ratio of each bifurcation interval to the next between
every period-doubling bifurcation.

The logistic map is a polynomial mapping, often cited as an archetypal

example of how chaotic behaviour can arise from very simple non-
linear dynamical equations. The map was popularized in a seminal
1976 paper by the Australian biologist Robert May,[5] in part as a
discrete-time demographic model analogous to the logistic equation
first created by Pierre François Verhulst. The difference equation is
intended to capture the two effects of reproduction and starvation.

The numeric value of α is approximately 2.5029. The numeric value of

δ is approximately 4.6692.

Apéry's constant ζ(3)[edit]

Main article: Apéry's constant
Apery's constant is the sum of the series

Apéry's constant is an irrational number and its numeric value is

approximately 1.2020569.
Despite being a special value of the Riemann zeta function, Apéry's
constant arises naturally in a number of physical problems, including
in the second- and third-order terms of the electron's gyromagnetic
ratio, computed using quantum electrodynamics.[6]

The golden ratio φ[edit]

Main article: Golden ratio

Golden rectangles in a regular

icosahedron

An explicit formula for the nth Fibonacci number involving the golden ratio φ.
The number φ, also called the golden ratio, turns up frequently
in geometry, particularly in figures with pentagonal symmetry. Indeed,
the length of a regular pentagon's diagonal is φ times its side. The
vertices of a regular icosahedron are those of three
mutually orthogonal golden rectangles. Also, it appears in
the Fibonacci sequence, related to growth
by recursion.[7] Kepler proved that it is the limit of the ratio of
consecutive Fibonacci numbers.[8] The golden ratio has the slowest
convergence of any irrational number.[9] It is, for that reason, one of
the worst cases of Lagrange's approximation theorem and it is an
extremal case of the Hurwitz inequality for Diophantine
approximations. This may be why angles close to the golden ratio
often show up in phyllotaxis (the growth of plants).[10] It is
approximately equal to 1.6180339887498948482, or, more precisely

2⋅sin(54°) =

The Euler–Mascheroni constant γ[edit]

Main article: Euler–Mascheroni constant

The area between the two curves (red) tends

to a limit, namely the Euler-Mascheroni constant.
The Euler–Mascheroni constant is defined as the following limit:

The Euler–Mascheroni constant appears in Mertens' third

theorem and has relations to the gamma function, the zeta
function and many different integrals and series.

It is yet unknown whether is rational or not.

The numeric value of is approximately 0.57721.

Conway's constant λ[edit]

Main article: Conway's constant

Conway's look-and-say sequence

Conway's constant is the invariant growth rate of all derived
strings similar to the look-and-say sequence (except for one trivial
one).[11]

It is given by the unique positive real root of a polynomial of

degree 71 with integer coefficients.[11]

The value of λ is approximately 1.30357.

Khinchin's constant K[edit]

Main article: Khinchin's constant
If a real number r is written as a simple continued fraction:

where ak are natural numbers for all k, then, as

the Russian mathematician Aleksandr Khinchin proved in
1934, the limit as n tends to infinity of the geometric mean:
(a1a2...an)1/n exists and is a constant, Khinchin's constant, except
for a set of measure 0.[12]

The numeric value of K is approximately 2.6854520010.

The Glaisher–Kinkelin constant A[edit]

Main article: Glaisher–Kinkelin constant
The Glaisher–Kinkelin constant is defined as the limit:

It appears in some expressions of the derivative of

the Riemann zeta function. It has a numerical value of
approximately 1.2824271291.