I&#x27;m guessing based on <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Transcendental_number" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Transcendental_number</a> that what the author in-consistently refers to as &quot;p&quot; (though, later there is a reference to &quot;e or pi&quot; - is actually pi, or  π - I don&#x27;t think I&#x27;ve ever seen pi referred to as &quot;p&quot; - anybody care to hazard a guess as to why the author did so?