Mathematical constants in C provided by math.h

C provides the following mathematical constants in the header file math.h.

C name Value Meaning
M_E e The base of natural logarithms, e.
M_LOG2E log2e The base 2 logarithm of e.
M_LOG10E log10e The base 2 logarithm of e.
M_LN2 ln 2 The natural logarithm of 2.
M_LN10 ln 10 The natural logarithm of 10.
M_PI π The circumference of a circle with diameter 1, π.
M_PI_2 π/2 Half of π.
M_PI_4 π/4 A quarter of π.
M_1_PI 1/π The inverse of π.
M_2_PI 2/π Twice the inverse of π.
M_2_SQRTPI 2/(√ π) The inverse of the square root of π.
M_SQRT2 √2 The square root of 2.
M_SQRT1_2 1/(√2) The inverse of the square root of 2.
HUGE The maximum value of a single-precision floating-point number.
MAXFLOAT The maximum value of a non-infinite single-precision floating-point number.
HUGE_VAL Positive infinity.

The following example C program prints out the values of the maths constants.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

#define V(x) {x, #x}

struct constant {
    double value;
    const char * name;
} 
constants[] = {
    V (M_E),
    V (M_LOG2E),
    V (M_LOG10E),
    V (M_LN2),
    V (M_LN10),
    V (M_PI),
    V (M_PI_2),
    V (M_PI_4),
    V (M_1_PI),
    V (M_2_PI),
    V (M_2_SQRTPI),
    V (M_SQRT2),
    V (M_SQRT1_2),
    V (HUGE),
    V (MAXFLOAT),
    V (HUGE_VAL),
};

int n_constants = sizeof (constants) / sizeof (struct constant);

int main ()
{

    int i;

    for (i = 0; i < n_constants; i++) {
        printf ("%s: %g\n", constants[i].name, constants[i].value);
    }

    return 0;
}

(download)

The output of the example looks like this:

M_E: 2.71828
M_LOG2E: 1.4427
M_LOG10E: 0.434294
M_LN2: 0.693147
M_LN10: 2.30259
M_PI: 3.14159
M_PI_2: 1.5708
M_PI_4: 0.785398
M_1_PI: 0.31831
M_2_PI: 0.63662
M_2_SQRTPI: 1.12838
M_SQRT2: 1.41421
M_SQRT1_2: 0.707107
HUGE: 3.40282e+38
MAXFLOAT: 3.40282e+38
HUGE_VAL: inf


Copyright © Ben Bullock 2009-2023. All rights reserved. For comments, questions, and corrections, please email Ben Bullock (benkasminbullock@gmail.com) or use the discussion group at Google Groups. / Privacy / Disclaimer