From 1cf18c2330b113807a0af4865cd4441802fa92fe Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: famemonkey <redbirdhasflown@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2026 21:00:17 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] feat: Approximate pi with machin's formula

---
 math/pi_machin.cpp | 124 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 124 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 math/pi_machin.cpp

diff --git a/math/pi_machin.cpp b/math/pi_machin.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ed07f59f54
--- /dev/null
+++ b/math/pi_machin.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+/**
+ * @file
+ * @brief Compute pi using Machin-like arctan formula.
+ * @details
+ * Implements Machin formula:
+ * pi/4 = 4 arctan(1/5) - arctan(1/239)
+ *
+ * Uses the power series of arctan(x).
+ * @see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machin-like_formula
+ */
+
+#include <cmath>
+#include <limits>
+#include <cassert>
+#include <iostream>
+#include <iomanip>
+
+/**
+ * @namespace math
+ * @brief Math algorithms
+ */
+namespace math {
+/**
+ * @namespace pi_approximation
+ * @brief Functions for approximating pi
+ */
+namespace pi_approximation {
+/**
+ * @brief Computes pi using Machin's forumla
+ *
+ * @details
+ * Approximates pi as a long double. The approximation
+ * ends either after the precision of a long double is no
+ * long sufficient, or after computing the 100th term of
+ * power series of arctan.
+ *
+ * @returns an approximation of pi
+ */
+long double pi_machin() {
+    bool coeff_sign{false}; // false: -1, true: 1
+    // Coefficient in the power series
+    long double coeff{0.0};
+
+    // Values of the first and second arctans
+    // in the Machin formula. Calculate these first
+    // and then combine everything
+    long double arctan1{0.0};
+    long double arctan2{0.0};
+
+    // Constants for the machin-formula. Squares are used
+    // as power series of arctan has uneven powers.
+    constexpr long double one_fifth_sq{0.2L * 0.2L};
+    constexpr long double one_239_sq{1.0L / (239.0L * 239.0L)};
+
+    // Record uneven powers of x.
+    // Avoids having to compute powers from scratch
+    // with a std::pow style function each iteration.
+    long double pow1{0.2L};
+    long double pow2{1.0L / 239.0L};
+
+    // Use for checking whether or not
+    // calculations are still relevant.
+    constexpr long double eps = std::numeric_limits<long double>::epsilon();
+
+    // Upper-bound: power of 10 rules.
+    // With long double precision, convergence is much
+    // faster than 100 iterations.
+    for (unsigned int i = 0; i < 100; ++i) {
+        coeff_sign = !coeff_sign;
+
+        coeff = 1.0 / (2*i + 1);
+        coeff = coeff_sign ? coeff : -coeff;
+
+        long double term1 = coeff * pow1;
+        long double term2 = coeff * pow2;
+
+        if (
+            std::abs(term1) < eps * std::abs(arctan1)
+            && std::abs(term2) < eps * std::abs(arctan2)
+        ) { break; }
+
+        arctan1 += term1;
+        arctan2 += term2;
+
+        pow1 *= one_fifth_sq;
+        pow2 *= one_239_sq;
+    }
+
+    return 4.0 * (4.0 * arctan1 - arctan2);
+}
+}
+}
+
+/**
+ * @brief Self-test implementation
+ * @returns `void`
+ */
+static void test() {
+    constexpr long double pi_ref{
+        3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117067982148086513282306647L
+    };
+
+    long double tolerance{
+        1000 * std::numeric_limits<long double>::epsilon()
+        * pi_ref
+    };
+
+    long double computed_pi = math::pi_approximation::pi_machin();
+    assert(std::abs(computed_pi - pi_ref) < tolerance);
+
+    std::cout << "Successfully computed pi!\n";
+    std::cout << "Pi is approximately: ";
+    std::cout << std::setprecision(std::numeric_limits<long double>::digits10);
+    std::cout << computed_pi << '\n';
+}
+
+/**
+ * @brief Main function
+ * @returns 0 on exit
+ */
+int main() {
+    test();
+    return 0;
+}