How to Type the Pi Symbol

Last Updated: February 22, 2022

Typing π on your keyboard can be almost as challenging as using π in an equation. But typing the π symbol isn't as hard as it seems, whether you have a Mac or a PC. If you want to know how to type π in a few seconds or less, just follow these easy steps.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

On a Windows PC

1
Press ⊞ Win+; or ⊞ Win+.. This will open the character picker.
2
Select the symbols tab Ω. This will open a palette of different symbols.

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3
Choose the language symbols Ω button. This will pull up a full menu of symbols in Greek and other Cyrillic scripts.
4
Click the letter π. It should be the in the fourth column, fourth row on the character picker.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

On a Linux PC

1
Press Ctrl+⇧ Shift+U. This key combination tells Linux that the following characters will be hex code for the desired character in Unicode.
2
Type the Unicode hex code for pi, which is 03c0.
3
Press ↵ Enter to tell Linux that you have finished typing, or you can press ⇧ Shift+U to enter pi and type another Unicode character.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

On a Mac

1
Open the character viewer. To do so, select your keyboard input from the menu bar, or press ⌘ Command+Space and search for the app.
2
Click on the search bar. This will allow you to search using the unicode name.
3
Search greek small letter pi. Then hit ↵ Enter.
4
Choose the character. It should be under the "Unicode name" section of the character viewer.

Community Q&A

Question

How do I type it on a smart phone?

Community Answer

For an iPhone, go to the keyboard settings and add the Greek language keyboard. Now, when you're typing something, click the globe in the bottom left hand corner of the screen so the keyboard changes to Greek. The pi symbol will be shown on the virtual keyboard.
Question

How can I type a pi symbol on an iPad?

Community Answer

You can add the Greek language on any iOS devices. Go to Settings, General, Keyboard, and Keyboard again. Then, select Add new keyboard and find Greek in the other iPhone languages. Then, when you need to type it, hold down the keyboard's globe icon and choose Greek. Finally, you'll see the pi symbol.
Question

How do I type the Pi symbol on a laptop running Ubuntu without a number pad?

Community Answer

The easiest (but most tedious) way is to search Pi and see if you can copy and paste it to where you need it to be.