1 Million Digits of Pi

pi
math
numbers
1 million digits of Pi, visualized
Author

Cole Baril

Published

March 24, 2026

Load Packages

require(pacman)
p_load(tidytuesdayR, tidyverse, trashpanda, magick)

Load Data

tuesdata <- tidytuesdayR::tt_load('2026-03-24')
pi_digits <- tuesdata$pi_digits

Plot

width <- 1000  # number of digits per row

df_grid <- pi_digits %>%
  mutate(
    row = (digit_position - 1) %/% width,
    col = (digit_position - 1) %% width,
    digit = factor(digit)
  )

plot <- ggplot(df_grid, aes(x = col, y = -row, fill = digit)) +
  geom_raster() +
  scale_fill_viridis_d("Digit", option = "turbo") +
  scale_x_continuous(expand = c(0, 0)) +
  scale_y_continuous(expand = c(0, 0)) +
  theme_cole(remove_grid = TRUE) +
  add_caption_cwb() +
  theme(legend.position = "top") +
  labs(
  title = "1 million digits of Pi, visualized",
  x = "Position within 1,000-digit block",
  y = "Block index (each row = next 1,000 digits)")
  

# Save and display images
current_dir <- dirname(knitr::current_input())
plot_name <- "pi_digits.png"

ggsave(plot = plot, 
       dpi = "screen",
       width = 12,
       height = 10,
       device = ragg::agg_png,
       filename = file.path(current_dir, plot_name))


# Read the big plot
img <- image_read(file.path(current_dir, plot_name))

# Force 16:9 aspect ratio with minimal padding
# Target size: 1200x675 px (16:9)
img_card <- image_scale(img, "1200x675")           # scale to fit inside 16:9
img_card <- image_extent(
  img_card,
  geometry = "1200x675",
  gravity = "center"
)

# Save as card preview
image_write(img_card, path = file.path(current_dir, "preview.png"))

knitr::include_graphics(
  file.path(current_dir, plot_name)
)

References

cite_packages(format = "rmd")

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