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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy Tau Trumps Pi
Jun 25, 2014 |By Randyn Charles Bartholomew
There aren't many things that Congress can agree on, but in early 2009 it passed a bipartisan resolution designating March 14th of each year as "Pi Day." Pi, the mathematical constant that students first encounter with the geometry of circles, equals about 3.14, hence its celebration on March 14. The math holiday had been a staple of geeks and teachers for yearsfestivities include eating pie the pastry while talking about pi the numberbut dissent began to appear from an unexpected quarter: a vocal and growing minority of mathematicians who rally around the radical proposition that pi is wrong.
They don't mean anything has been miscalculated. Pi ( ? ) still equals the same infinite string of never-repeating digits. Rather, according to The Tau Manifesto, "pi is a confusing and unnatural choice for the circle constant." Far more relevant, according to the algebraic apostates, is 2?, aka tau.
Manifesto author Michael Hartl received his PhD in theoretical physics from the California Institute of Technology and is only one in a string of established players beginning to question the orthodoxy. Last year the University of Oxford hosted a daylong conference titled "Tau versus Pi: Fixing a 250-Year-Old Mistake." In 2012 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology modified its practice of letting applicants know admissions decisions on Pi Day by further specifying that it will happen at tau timethat is, at 6:28 P.M. The Internet glommed onto the topic as well, with its traditional fervor for whimsical causes. YouTube videos on the subject abound with millions of views and feisty comment sectionshardly a common occurrence in mathematical debates.
The crux of the argument is that pi is a ratio comparing a circles circumference with its diameter, which is not a quantity mathematicians generally care about. In fact, almost every mathematical equation about circles is written in terms of r for radius. Tau is precisely the number that connects a circumference to that quantity.
They don't mean anything has been miscalculated. Pi ( ? ) still equals the same infinite string of never-repeating digits. Rather, according to The Tau Manifesto, "pi is a confusing and unnatural choice for the circle constant." Far more relevant, according to the algebraic apostates, is 2?, aka tau.
Manifesto author Michael Hartl received his PhD in theoretical physics from the California Institute of Technology and is only one in a string of established players beginning to question the orthodoxy. Last year the University of Oxford hosted a daylong conference titled "Tau versus Pi: Fixing a 250-Year-Old Mistake." In 2012 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology modified its practice of letting applicants know admissions decisions on Pi Day by further specifying that it will happen at tau timethat is, at 6:28 P.M. The Internet glommed onto the topic as well, with its traditional fervor for whimsical causes. YouTube videos on the subject abound with millions of views and feisty comment sectionshardly a common occurrence in mathematical debates.
The crux of the argument is that pi is a ratio comparing a circles circumference with its diameter, which is not a quantity mathematicians generally care about. In fact, almost every mathematical equation about circles is written in terms of r for radius. Tau is precisely the number that connects a circumference to that quantity.
More at the link: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/let-s-use-tau-it-s-easier-than-pi/
Note: I had to put spaces in ( n ) to avoid smile action. Well, it's not really an "n" in the parenthesis, but...whatever.
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Why Tau Trumps Pi (Original Post)
ZombieHorde
Jun 2014
OP
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)1. I prefer Phi...
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)2. That is definately cool,
but spirals are different than circles.
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)3. I like the magic of a number that is satisfies this equation:
:
1/x = 1+x
X = Phi!
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)5. Let's see...(plugs numbers into calculator)
1/1.6180339887=0.6180339887
1+1.6180339887=2.6180339887
What am I doing wrong?
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)7. Well, to be fair....
..
1/.6180339 = 1+.6180339
phi is taken as 1.6180339.... so I misspoke and should have written "x = phi-1"
Still, a very cool value that I remember working out with a simple four function calculator, trial and error, decades ago, so enamored with the golden mean but needed to know the approximate value.
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)8. Ah. That is pretty cool. nt
Blecht
(3,803 posts)6. Not quite right
1 + 1/x = x
for x = phi
LostOne4Ever
(9,292 posts)4. Who doesn't love the golden mean! (nt)
Javaman
(62,534 posts)9. Awww, but everyone loves Pi...