Mathematical constants¶

The following standard mathematical constants are defined in Sage, along with support for coercing them into GAP, GP/PARI, KASH, Maxima, Mathematica, Maple, Octave, and Singular:

sage: pi
pi
sage: e             # base of the natural logarithm
e
sage: NaN           # Not a number
NaN
sage: golden_ratio
golden_ratio
sage: log2          # natural logarithm of the real number 2
log2
sage: euler_gamma   # Euler's gamma constant
euler_gamma
sage: catalan       # the Catalan constant
catalan
sage: khinchin      # Khinchin's constant
khinchin
sage: twinprime
twinprime
sage: mertens
mertens
sage: brun
brun

Support for coercion into the various systems means that if, e.g., you want to create $\pi$ in Maxima and Singular, you don’t have to figure out the special notation for each system. You just type the following:

sage: maxima(pi)
%pi
sage: singular(pi)
pi
sage: gap(pi)
pi
sage: gp(pi)
3.141592653589793238462643383     # 32-bit
3.1415926535897932384626433832795028842   # 64-bit
sage: pari(pi)
3.14159265358979
sage: kash(pi)                    # optional
3.14159265358979323846264338328
sage: mathematica(pi)             # optional
Pi
sage: maple(pi)                   # optional
Pi
sage: octave(pi)                  # optional
3.14159

Arithmetic operations with constants also yield constants, which can be coerced into other systems or evaluated.

sage: a = pi + e*4/5; a
pi + 4/5*e
sage: maxima(a)
%pi+4*%e/5
sage: RealField(15)(a)           # 15 *bits* of precision
5.316
sage: gp(a)             
5.316218116357029426750873360              # 32-bit
5.3162181163570294267508733603616328824    # 64-bit
sage: print mathematica(a)                     # optional
 4 E
 --- + Pi
  5    

EXAMPLES: Decimal expansions of constants

We can obtain floating point approximations to each of these constants by coercing into the real field with given precision. For example, to 200 decimal places we have the following:

sage: R = RealField(200); R
Real Field with 200 bits of precision

sage: R(pi)
3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749

sage: R(e)
2.7182818284590452353602874713526624977572470936999595749670

sage: R(NaN)
NaN

sage: R(golden_ratio)
1.6180339887498948482045868343656381177203091798057628621354

sage: R(log2)
0.69314718055994530941723212145817656807550013436025525412068

sage: R(euler_gamma)
0.57721566490153286060651209008240243104215933593992359880577

sage: R(catalan)
0.91596559417721901505460351493238411077414937428167213426650

sage: R(khinchin)
2.6854520010653064453097148354817956938203822939944629530512

EXAMPLES: Arithmetic with constants

sage: f = I*(e+1); f
I*e + I
sage: f^2
(I*e + I)^2
sage: _.expand()
-2*e - e^2 - 1

sage: pp = pi+pi; pp
2*pi
sage: R(pp)
6.2831853071795864769252867665590057683943387987502116419499

sage: s = (1 + e^pi); s
e^pi + 1
sage: R(s)
24.140692632779269005729086367948547380266106242600211993445
sage: R(s-1)
23.140692632779269005729086367948547380266106242600211993445

sage: l = (1-log2)/(1+log2); l
-(log2 - 1)/(log2 + 1)
sage: R(l)
0.18123221829928249948761381864650311423330609774776013488056

sage: pim = maxima(pi)
sage: maxima.eval('fpprec : 100')
'100'
sage: pim.bfloat()
3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117068b0

AUTHORS:

Alex Clemesha (2006-01-15)
William Stein
Alex Clemesha, William Stein (2006-02-20): added new constants; removed todos
Didier Deshommes (2007-03-27): added constants from RQDF (deprecated)

TESTS:

Coercing the sum of a bunch of the constants to many different floating point rings:

sage: a = pi + e + golden_ratio + log2 + euler_gamma + catalan + khinchin + twinprime + mertens; a
pi + euler_gamma + catalan + golden_ratio + log2 + khinchin + twinprime + mertens + e
sage: parent(a)
Symbolic Ring
sage: RR(a)
13.2713479401972
sage: RealField(212)(a)
13.2713479401972493100988191995758139408711068200030748178329712
sage: RealField(230)(a)
13.271347940197249310098819199575813940871106820003074817832971189555
sage: CC(a)
13.2713479401972
sage: CDF(a)
13.2713479402
sage: ComplexField(230)(a)
13.271347940197249310098819199575813940871106820003074817832971189555
sage: RDF(a)
13.2713479402

Test if #8237 is fixed:

sage: maxima('infinity').sage()
Infinity
sage: maxima('inf').sage()
+Infinity
sage: maxima('minf').sage()
-Infinity

class sage.symbolic.constants.Brun(name='brun')¶

Bases: sage.symbolic.constants.LimitedPrecisionConstant

Brun’s constant is the sum of reciprocals of odd twin primes.

It is not known to very high precision; calculating the number using twin primes up to $10^{16}$ (Sebah 2002) gives the number $1.9021605831040$ .

EXAMPLES:

sage: float(brun)
...
NotImplementedError: brun is only available up to 41 bits
sage: R = RealField(41); R
Real Field with 41 bits of precision
sage: R(brun)
1.90216058310

class sage.symbolic.constants.Catalan(name='catalan')¶

Bases: sage.symbolic.constants.Constant

A number appearing in combinatorics defined as the Dirichlet beta function evaluated at the number 2.

EXAMPLES:

sage: catalan^2 + mertens
mertens + catalan^2

class sage.symbolic.constants.Constant(name, conversions=None, latex=None, mathml='', domain='complex')¶

Bases: object

domain()¶

Returns the domain of this constant. This is either positive, real, or complex, and is used by Pynac to make inferences about expressions containing this constant.

EXAMPLES:

sage: p = pi.pyobject(); p
pi
sage: type(_)
<class 'sage.symbolic.constants.Pi'>
sage: p.domain()
'positive'

expression()¶

Returns an expression for this constant.

EXAMPLES:

sage: a = pi.pyobject()
sage: pi2 = a.expression()
sage: pi2
pi
sage: pi2 + 2
pi + 2
sage: pi - pi2
0

name()¶

Returns the name of this constant.

EXAMPLES:

sage: from sage.symbolic.constants import Constant
sage: c = Constant('c')
sage: c.name()
'c'

class sage.symbolic.constants.EulerGamma(name='euler_gamma')¶

Bases: sage.symbolic.constants.Constant

The limiting difference between the harmonic series and the natural logarithm.

EXAMPLES:

sage: R = RealField()
sage: R(euler_gamma)
0.577215664901533
sage: R = RealField(200); R
Real Field with 200 bits of precision
sage: R(euler_gamma)
0.57721566490153286060651209008240243104215933593992359880577
sage: eg = euler_gamma + euler_gamma; eg
2*euler_gamma
sage: R(eg)
1.1544313298030657212130241801648048620843186718798471976115

class sage.symbolic.constants.Glaisher(name='glaisher')¶

Bases: sage.symbolic.constants.Constant

The Glaisher-Kinkelin constant $A = \exp(\frac{1}{12}-\zeta'(-1))$ .

EXAMPLES:

sage: float(glaisher)
1.2824271291006226
sage: glaisher.n(digits=60)
1.28242712910062263687534256886979172776768892732500119206374
sage: a = glaisher + 2
sage: a
glaisher + 2
sage: parent(a)
Symbolic Ring

class sage.symbolic.constants.GoldenRatio(name='golden_ratio')¶

Bases: sage.symbolic.constants.Constant

The number (1+sqrt(5))/2

EXAMPLES:

sage: gr = golden_ratio
sage: RR(gr)
1.61803398874989
sage: R = RealField(200)
sage: R(gr)
1.6180339887498948482045868343656381177203091798057628621354
sage: grm = maxima(golden_ratio);grm
(sqrt(5)+1)/2
sage: grm + grm
sqrt(5)+1
sage: float(grm + grm)
3.2360679774997898

minpoly(bits=None, degree=None, epsilon=0)¶

EXAMPLES:

sage: golden_ratio.minpoly()
x^2 - x - 1

class sage.symbolic.constants.Khinchin(name='khinchin')¶

Bases: sage.symbolic.constants.Constant

The geometric mean of the continued fraction expansion of any (almost any) real number.

EXAMPLES:

sage: float(khinchin)
2.6854520010653062
sage: khinchin.n(digits=60)
2.68545200106530644530971483548179569382038229399446295305115
sage: m = mathematica(khinchin); m             # optional
Khinchin
sage: m.N(200)                                 # optional
2.68545200106530644530971483548179569382038229399446295305115234555721885953715200280114117493184769799515346590528809008289767771641096305179253348325966838185231542133211949962603932852204481940961807          # 32-bit
2.6854520010653064453097148354817956938203822939944629530511523455572188595371520028011411749318476979951534659052880900828976777164109630517925334832596683818523154213321194996260393285220448194096181                # 64-bit

class sage.symbolic.constants.LimitedPrecisionConstant(name, value, **kwds)¶: Bases: sage.symbolic.constants.Constant

class sage.symbolic.constants.Log2(name='log2')¶

Bases: sage.symbolic.constants.Constant

The natural logarithm of the real number 2.

EXAMPLES:

sage: log2
log2
sage: float(log2)
0.69314718055994529
sage: RR(log2)
0.693147180559945
sage: R = RealField(200); R
Real Field with 200 bits of precision
sage: R(log2)
0.69314718055994530941723212145817656807550013436025525412068
sage: l = (1-log2)/(1+log2); l
-(log2 - 1)/(log2 + 1)
sage: R(l)
0.18123221829928249948761381864650311423330609774776013488056
sage: maxima(log2)
log(2)
sage: maxima(log2).float()
.6931471805599453
sage: gp(log2)
0.6931471805599453094172321215             # 32-bit
0.69314718055994530941723212145817656807   # 64-bit

class sage.symbolic.constants.Mertens(name='mertens')¶

Bases: sage.symbolic.constants.Constant

The Mertens constant is related to the Twin Primes constant and appears in Mertens’ second theorem.

EXAMPLES:

sage: float(mertens)
0.26149721284764277
sage: mertens.n(digits=60)
0.261497212847642783755426838608695859051566648261199206192064

class sage.symbolic.constants.NotANumber(name='NaN')¶

Bases: sage.symbolic.constants.Constant

Not a Number

class sage.symbolic.constants.Pi(name='pi')¶: Bases: sage.symbolic.constants.Constant

class sage.symbolic.constants.TwinPrime(name='twinprime')¶

Bases: sage.symbolic.constants.Constant

The Twin Primes constant is defined as $\prod 1 - 1/(p-1)^2$ for primes $p > 2$ .

EXAMPLES:

sage: float(twinprime)
0.66016181584686962
sage: twinprime.n(digits=60)
0.660161815846869573927812110014555778432623360284733413319448

sage.symbolic.constants.unpickle_Constant(class_name, name, conversions, latex, mathml, domain)¶

EXAMPLES:

sage: from sage.symbolic.constants import unpickle_Constant
sage: a = unpickle_Constant('Constant', 'a', {}, 'aa', '', 'positive')
sage: a.domain()
'positive'
sage: latex(a)
aa

Note that if the name already appears in the constants_name_table, then that will be returned instead of constructing a new object:

sage: pi = unpickle_Constant('Pi', 'pi', None, None, None, None)
sage: pi._maxima_init_()
'%pi'

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