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I need to have $\pi$ with an accuracy of $10$ digits. My first guess would be

N[Pi, 10]

However, this rounds to the last digit instead of just chopping of any additional digits and hence the last digit is $4$ (and not $3$, as it actually is).

I could do

N[FromDigits[RealDigits[Pi, 10, 10]], 10]

but I am pretty sure that there are nicer solutions.

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  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Maybe IntegerPart[Pi 10^9]/10.^9:) $\endgroup$ – Kuba♦ Dec 16 '13 at 21:24
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    $\begingroup$ Floor[N[Pi, 11], 0.000000001]. Frankly, this looks like a non-problem. $\endgroup$ – Sjoerd C. de Vries Dec 16 '13 at 21:27
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    $\begingroup$ If you just want to print it..StringTake[ToString[N[Pi, 11]], 11] $\endgroup$ – george2079 Dec 16 '13 at 21:34
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    $\begingroup$ 3.141592653 :-) $\endgroup$ – Cassini Dec 16 '13 at 22:51
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for those suggestions. Actually, Pi is just an example for a number. So what I want is to get the first n digits of a number a, without rounding. $\endgroup$ – traindriver Dec 17 '13 at 10:57
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If you only need 10 digits of precision there's a ComputerArithmetic package that allows you to specify your rounding method under limited conditions.

Needs["ComputerArithmetic`"]
SetArithmetic[10, RoundingRule->Truncation]

This will set up our arithmetic system, but in order to use it, we'll need to use ComputerNumber[]

N[ComputerNumber[Pi],10]

yields an output of 3.141592653

N[ComputerNumber[EulerGamma],10]

yields an output of 0.5772156649. But keep in mind this is 10 total digits of precision so if we do this:

N[ComputerNumber[100*EulerGamma],10]

we'll get 57.72156649 and not 57.7215664901

If you require more flexible precision you'll want to do what Sjoerd C. de Vries recommended. I've wrapped everything in a SetPrecision[] for clarity because without it Mathematica will hide the output of everything but the first 6 significant digits:

NTrunc[number_, precision_Integer] := 
 SetPrecision[
  Floor[
   N[number, precision + 1], 
   10^-(precision - 1)], 
  precision]
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Here is a round-about method, after the BBP algorithm (discovered by a computer! * ) :-

Round[NSum[
   (4/(8 n + 1) - 2/(8 n + 4) - 1/(8 n + 5) - 1/(8 n + 6))/16^n,
   {n, 0, 5}], 10.^-9] // InputForm

3.141592653

* "The formula itself was found by a computer program, and almost certainly constitutes the first instance of a computer program finding a significant new formula for pi." - D.H.Bailey

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  • $\begingroup$ hmm.. i think this only works because the approximation happens to round the right way. Were there a base 10 anaolg of the bpp formula then you'd have something. $\endgroup$ – george2079 Dec 16 '13 at 23:38
  • $\begingroup$ @george2079 - yes, the approximate rounding was convenient ;-) $\endgroup$ – Chris Degnen Dec 16 '13 at 23:46
  • $\begingroup$ I hope it was obvious that I only summed to the 5th term rather than infinity, as the proper formula has it. $\endgroup$ – Chris Degnen Dec 16 '13 at 23:54
  • $\begingroup$ interesting! but as I just commented above, I am not only interested in Pi but also other numbers. $\endgroup$ – traindriver Dec 17 '13 at 11:00
  • $\begingroup$ @traindriver - then I would have said your RealDigits method was best, but hifigi's ComputerNumber is even better, and it works with negative numbers. $\endgroup$ – Chris Degnen Dec 18 '13 at 9:11
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I liked george2079 solution in the comments above, so here is a Manipulate using it, just for fun (I have slow coffee maker :)

enter image description here

Manipulate[
 n,
 Grid[{
   {N[Pi, 50], SpanFromLeft},
   {Dynamic[StringTake[ToString[N[Pi, n]], n]], SpanFromLeft},
   {Control[{{n, 10, "N?"}, 2, 50, 1, ImageSize -> Medium}], 
    Dynamic[n]}
   }, Alignment -> Left],
 TrackedSymbols :> {n},
 ImageMargins -> 0,
 FrameMargins -> 0,
 ContentSize -> {0},
 AppearanceElements -> "ManipulateMenu",
 Paneled -> False
 ]
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  • $\begingroup$ nice one! but as stated above, Pi just served as an example for any number... $\endgroup$ – traindriver Dec 17 '13 at 10:58

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