‘Minecraft’ does not seem like the best place to calculate pi: two researchers have found a way to approximate it inside the game

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Researchers Molly Lynch and Michael Weselcouch used Minecraft to approximate pi in a playful mathematical experiment. They built a circle and square inside the game and applied a Monte Carlo method to estimate the value of the constant. Instead of turning Minecraft into a conventional calculator, they used in-game mechanics like slimes, zoglins, and hoppers to count random events. The result was an approximate value of 3.283, which the researchers present as an accessible educational demonstration rather than a highly precise calculation.

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