PiPrints
Pi is an irrational and transcendental number (most real numbers are). But pi is a special number---one of a few (O(1)?) that fascinate us. We invoke pi throughout our mathematical models of the physical world, not just in geometry. And yet pi contains in it an infinite length of digits. We cannot entirely grasp its whole, except as an abstraction in the form of a single greek letter.
Using clever algorithms and simple code [1], one can calculate many digits of pi. On modern computing hardware, it is a quick task to generate tens of thousands of digits of pi. When they are printed on an impact printer with 132 columns and 6 rows per inch, those digits begin to stretch to feet.
Big pi series
pi^2
Large dot matrix digits of pi. Each "dot" in the matrix is an individual printed number of pi.
Qume Sprint 11/55 daisy wheel printer, Prestige Elite 12 ASCII typeface, polymer ribbon
April 2022
Euler's pi
Large dot matrix digits of pi. Each "dot" in the matrix is an individual printed numeric character of Euler's number, e. [2]
Qume Sprint 11/55 daisy wheel printer, Prestige Elite 12 ASCII typeface, polymer ribbon
April 2022
DEC pi^2
Dot matrix pi printed with a dot matrix printer.
DECWRITER II terminal, cloth ribbon, green bar paper
May 2022
Digits of pi series
September 2021
15840 digits of pi
20 inches of a full sheet width of pi
Diablo Advantage/25 daisy wheel printer, Pica-10 typeface, cloth ribbon
Pi, masked
14118 digits printed around the greek letter pi rendered in Computer Modern
Diablo Advantage/25 daisy wheel printer, Pica-10 typeface, cloth ribbon
2pi or not 2pi
A circle inscribed in 11436 digits of pi and its logical inverse, 4536 digits of pi printed in a circle
Diablo Advantage/25 daisy wheel printer, Pica-10 typeface, cloth ribbon
tan pi and tan^-1 pi
A large circle with 7842 digits of pi printed around it, and the inverse text, a circle of 7602 digits of pi
Diablo Advantage/25 daisy wheel printer, Pica-10 typeface, cloth ribbon
Ones and zeros
Ones and zeros in the first 7602 digits of pi printed in a circle
Diablo Advantage/25 daisy wheel printer, Pica-10 typeface, polymer ribbon
Apple pi
6571 digits of pi
Diablo Advantage/25 daisy wheel printer, Pica-10 typeface, cloth ribbon
DECWRITER II, green bar paper, December 2021
Claude Shannon's Apple
The occurrences of 1 and 0 in the first 6571 digits of pi
Diablo Advantage/25 daisy wheel printer, Pica-10 typeface, polymer ribbon
American pi
8737 digits of pi in the form of the US flag
Diablo Advantage/25 daisy wheel printer, Pica-10 typeface, cloth ribbon
Imperfect pi
7128 digits of pi with variations caused by the printer ribbon
Diablo Advantage/25 daisy wheel printer, Pica-10 typeface, re-inked cloth ribbon
Private collection
Transcentental Zines
July 2023
73920 Digits of Pi
The first 73920 digits of pi printed as a hand-stitched 20-page booklet. A shell script generates a text file, which is processed by enscript and ps2pdf. Typeset in ORC-A and laser printed on 20 lb. letter paper, five-hole pamphlet stitch with binders thread. Also published as 67200 Digits of Pi with cotton bond paper cover, staple binding.
73920 Digits of e
Companion to 73920 Digits of Pi -- the first 73920 digits of Euler's number.
References
- S. Rabinowitz, Abstract 863-11-482: A spigot algorithm for π, Abstracts Amer. Math. Society 12 (1991) p. 30; S. Rabinowitz, S. Wagon, A Spigot Algorithm for the Digits of π, The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 102, No. 3. (Mar., 1995), pp. 195-203.
- Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell, The Number e to 1 Million Digits,
https://apod.nasa.gov/htmltest/gifcity/e.1mil, retrieved 1 May 2022.