Happy 'Tau day'

here · Post by **Fatleaf** » Tue Jun 28, 2011 12:15 pm

For those who don't like pi. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13906169

Website · Post by **DaddyHoggy** » Tue Jun 28, 2011 12:52 pm

OK, so the area of a circle is:

pi * r * r

are the tau-ists suggesting:

1/2 tau * r * r

or the volume of a sphere:

4/3 * pi * r * r * r

becomes

2/3 * tau * r * r * r

Oh yes, that's so much more convenient...

Tau-ist = somebody with nothing better to do.

Gimi · Post by **Gimi** » Tue Jun 28, 2011 1:04 pm

DaddyHoggy wrote:
OK, so the area of a circle is:
pi * r * r
are the tau-ists suggesting:
1/2 tau * r * r
or the volume of a sphere:
4/3 * pi * r * r * r
becomes
2/3 * tau * r * r * r
Oh yes, that's so much more convenient...
Tau-ist = somebody with nothing better to do.

I think the argument was that when you use radians and more complex formulas Tau makes it simpler. (No, I have not tested anything and I don't intend to)
I tend to favour the underdog, so go Tau. (Just because I can, and for no other sensible reason)

Commander Smivs · Post by **Smivs** » Tue Jun 28, 2011 2:50 pm

Mmmmm, did somebody say Pie?

JensAyton · Post by **JensAyton** » Tue Jun 28, 2011 3:57 pm

DaddyHoggy wrote:
Oh yes, that's so much more convenient...

The actual Tau Manifesto is really quite interesting (and the additional /2 in the circular area formula has an arguable pedagogical benefit). Its biggest weakness, as I see it, is that it mentions the advantage of π radians in calculus, and then conveniently fails to mention the power-of-two scale factors that will be needed if you use τ radians instead.

here · Post by **Fatleaf** » Tue Jun 28, 2011 4:21 pm

Smivs wrote:
Mmmmm, did somebody say Pie?

Yup! Pumpkin

Now lets have a musical accompaniment to this discussion shall we, while the oven heats up.

CommonSenseOTB · Post by **CommonSenseOTB** » Tue Jun 28, 2011 8:41 pm

Smivs wrote:
Mmmmm, did somebody say Pie?

Sometimes making a good pie requires that one research and experiment with better ingredents in other baked confections before applying that knowledge to the pie in question.

drew · Post by **drew** » Wed Jun 29, 2011 9:55 am

I was forced to learn Pi to 20 decimal places at school. I can't unlearn it now, even if I wanted to!

Cheers,

Drew.

Wyvern Mommy · Post by **Wyvern Mommy** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 5:40 am

i rather like the fact that angles in radians are about equal to their sinus and tangens if the angle is small enough. (the way to put it is "within adequate tollerance", depending on context) it does help me in my line of work every so often.
for that reason, i always saw radians as the "natural unit" for angles

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