the pi is a lie! bring on tau day!

[technowhistle]

http://tauday.com/

[MTGuru]

I'd rather have two pies!

[chas]

But then the area of a circle is tau*r^2/4 rather than pi*r^2 ! If he wants to use those expressions, just replace radius with diameter.

I don't think this is a step in the right direction. It sounds to me like this guy's one of those algebraicists who insist on writing (x)f instead of f(x).

[Denny]

[I.D.10-t]

Another revolutionary?

[dwest]

[Doug_Tipple]

Somewhere after the Fourier transform and Cauchy's integral formula but before the Riemann Zeta function, I got lost.

[highwood]

But then the area of a circle is tau*r^2/4 rather than pi*r^2 !

wrong, it is 1/2 tau r^2 - and the page talks about how that is similar to other equations such as 1/2 g t^2

having taught math I think there is definitely something to the pedagogical aspects - but trying to change what is taught will be an uphill battle!!! (though it would be a good excuse to sell new text books)

[Thomas-Hastay]

My personal favorite is also the square root of 5 + 1 divided by 2 (originally called Tau but also Phi), but all life is defined by the fractal formulae of self-similar fractal mathemetics given to us by "Father" Benoit Mandelbrot of which Tau is only a part. Without his fractal formulae, we wouldn't have ANY video games to play in the cold winter months!!! Disaster!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-similarity
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_v94ff65cUgE/T ... Art_17.jpg

[benhall.1]

Um ... if they're that good at maths, how come they can't cope with multiplying (or dividing) by 2?

[chas]

But then the area of a circle is tau*r^2/4 rather than pi*r^2 !

wrong, it is 1/2 tau r^2 - and the page talks about how that is similar to other equations such as 1/2 g t^2

having taught math I think there is definitely something to the pedagogical aspects - but trying to change what is taught will be an uphill battle!!! (though it would be a good excuse to sell new text books)

DOH! My bad. OTOH, there are things like m*c^2. And don't forget exp(i*pi)=-1, which would have to become exp(i*tau/2)=-1. Unless the radian is redefined to be the ratio of the arc length to the diameter of the circle. Either way, it would have all sorts of ripple effects.

If folks are successful at changing this, maybe they can tackle English spelling afterward.

[hans]

τ corresponds to one turn of a circle, and you may have noticed that “τ” and “turn” both start with a “t” sound. This was the original motivation for the choice of τ, and it is not a coincidence: the root of the English word “turn” is the Greek word for “lathe”, tornos—or, as the Greeks would put it,
τoρνoς.

Ah, "lathe", what a marvellous invention! Who can resist such logic, I am all for the change to Tau!
Now I need to reprogram my brain:
T ~ 6.2831853
circle area = one half T * R^2
Sphere volume = two thirds T * R^3
and this loveliness for radian angles:

[Thomas-Hastay]

Whatzamatter Chas? You think we aint gots no good inglush heeah ? We-uns aint stupud!!! (Sheesh! The Noyve a dat guy!)