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13,634 entries
Last updated: Thu Dec 7 2017
Created, developed, and
nurtured by Eric Weisstein
at Wolfram Research
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Constant.html
Constant -- from Wolfram MathWorld
Number Theory > Constants > Miscellaneous Constants >
Recreational Mathematics > Mathematical Records > Apry's constant
Interactive Entries > Interactive Demonstrations >
THINGS TO TRY:
Constant Apry's constant
Apry's constant approximations
Planck's constant * speed of light
A constant, sometimes also called a "mathematical constant," is any well-defined real number which is significantly
interesting in some way. In this work, the term "constant" is generally reserved for real nonintegral numbers of interest,
while "number" is used to refer to interesting integers (e.g., Brun's constant, but beast number). However, in contexts
such as linear combination, the term "constant" is generally used to mean "scalar" or "real number," and need not
exclude integer values.
Catalog of Some
A function, equation, etc., is said to "be constant" (or be a constant function) if it always assumes the same value Elementary Functions
independent of how its parameters are varied. German Vargas
Certain constants are known to many decimal digits and recur throughout many diverse areas of mathematics, often in
unexpected and surprising places (e.g., pi, e, and to some extent, the Euler-Mascheroni constant ). Other constants Graphs of Successive
are more specialized and may be known to only a few digits. S. Plouffe maintains a site about the computation and Digits of Pi, e, and Ph
Daniel de Souza Carvalho
identification of numerical constants. Plouffe's site also contains a page giving the largest number of digits computed
for the most common constants. S. Finch maintains a delightful, more expository site containing detailed essays and
references on constants both common and obscure. Comparing Real
Mathematical
The mathematician Glaisher remarked, "No doubt the desire to obtain the values of these quantities to a great many Constants and
figures is also partly due to the fact that most of them are interesting in themselves; for , , , , and many other Random Numbers
numerical quantities occupy a curious, and some of them almost a mysterious, place in mathematics, so that there is a Daniel de Souza Carvalho
natural tendency to do all that can be done towards their precise determination" (Gourdon and Sebah).
The following table lists some common constants, their symbols, and approximate values.
constant Wolfram Language symbol Sloane approx. value
Apry's constant Zeta[3] A002117 1.20206...
Catalan's constant Catalan A006752 0.915966...
Delian constant 2^(1/3) A002580 1.25992...
e E A001113 2.71828...
Euler-Mascheroni constant EulerGamma A001620 0.577216...
Glaisher-Kinkelin constant Glaisher A074962 1.28243...
golden ratio GoldenRatio A001622 1.61803...
Khinchin's constant Khinchin A002210 2.68545...
natural logarithm of 2 Log[2] A002162 0.693147...
pi Pi A000796 3.14159...
Pythagoras's constant Sqrt[2] A002193 1.41421...
Soldner's constant A070769 1.45136...
Gourdon and Sebah and Lyster maintain web pages comparing the fastest known algorithms for computing digits of
common constants.
SEE ALSO:
Coefficient, Constant Function, Constant of Integration, Constant of Proportionality, Constant Polynomial, Number,
Piecewise Constant Function, Real Number, Scalar
RELATED WOLFRAM SITES:
http://functions.wolfram.com/Constants/
REFERENCES:
Bailey, D. H. and Crandall, R. E. "On the Random Character of Fundamental Constant Expansions." Exper. Math. 10, 175-190,
2001. http://www.nersc.gov/~dhbailey/dhbpapers/baicran.pdf.
Borwein, J. and Bailey, D. Mathematics by Experiment: Plausible Reasoning in the 21st Century. Wellesley, MA: A K Peters,
p. 145, 2003.
Borwein, J. and Borwein, P. A Dictionary of Real Numbers. London: Chapman & Hall, 1990.
Finch, S. R. Mathematical Constants. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Gourdon, X. and Sebah, P. "Numbers, Constants and Computation." http://numbers.computation.free.fr/Constants/constants.html.
Gourdon, X. and Sebah, P. "User Constants (Compute log(2), zeta(3), Catalan Constant, Pi with Arctan Formulas ... with pifast."
http://numbers.computation.free.fr/Constants/PiProgram/userconstants.html.
Gourdon, X. and Sebah, P. "Constants and Records of Computation."
http://numbers.computation.free.fr/Constants/Miscellaneous/Records.html.
Kondo, S. "PI WORLD OF JA0HXV." http://ja0hxv.calico.jp/pai/estart.html.
Le Lionnais, F. Les nombres remarquables. Paris: Hermann, 1983.
Lyster, S. "Stu's Pi Page: The Fastest Pi Programs on the Planet." http://home.istar.ca/~lyster/otherconstants.html.
Michon, G. P. "Final Answers: Numerical Constants." http://home.att.net/~numericana/answer/constants.htm.
Munafo, R. "Notable Properties of Specific Numbers." http://home.earthlink.net/~mrob/pub/math/numbers.html.
Niklasch, G. "Some Number-Theoretical Constants Arising as Products of Rational Functions of over the Primes."
http://www.gn-50uma.de/alula/essays/Moree/Moree.en.shtml.
Plouffe, S. "Plouffe's Inverter." http://pi.lacim.uqam.ca/eng/.
Plouffe, S. "Plouffe's Inverter: Table of Current Records for the Computation of Constants."
http://pi.lacim.uqam.ca/eng/records_en.html.
Plouffe, S. "Miscellaneous Mathematical Constants."
http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/sci/math/MiscellaneousMathematicalConstants/toc.html.
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12/9/2017 Constant -- from Wolfram MathWorld
Robinson, H. P. and Potter, E. Mathematical Constants. Report UCRL-20418. Berkeley, CA: University of California, 1971.
Trott, M. "Mathematical Constants." 2.2.4 in The Mathematica GuideBook for Programming. New York: Springer-Verlag, pp. 171-
180, 2004. http://www.mathematicaguidebooks.org/.
Wells, D. W. The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books, 1986.

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