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On July 02 2011 20:24 hifriend wrote:
lmao my math professor used to go on and on about tau and how it's superior to pi
is there any reason we can't use both?
Well it essentially becomes redundant, to force kids to learn about two irrational numbers and many new formulas when one number is just double the other... since many formulas don't just become 2* the other formula anymore.
I'm a math education guy, and I'm fine with sticking with pi. I've read the arguments for tau. Some are pretty cool, but not enough to make me a proponent for the change.
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Why not just use both? Really that hard to have 1 more important formula?
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makes perfect sense;
/sign
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On July 02 2011 20:37 Klipsys wrote:
Why not just use both? Really that hard to have 1 more important formula?
I believe quite recently we had a mars rover landing crash because some people did the math in feet but then programed the landing in meters.
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I personally think it's a dumb idea. If anyone is convinced about its profits, so be it, but I really doubt the benefits of the change will compensate for the sheer effort behind a possible change.
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On July 02 2011 20:47 decemberTV wrote:Show nested quote +On July 02 2011 20:37 Klipsys wrote:
Why not just use both? Really that hard to have 1 more important formula? I believe quite recently we had a mars rover landing crash because some people did the math in feet but then programed the landing in meters.
Well that's just absurd, and if that's a NASA blunder I'm ashamed for my country lol. Seriously thought, getting rid of pi just feels wrong. I can understand the importance of accepting new information and implementing it correctly, but to disregard something as massive as pi seems foolish.
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On July 02 2011 20:50 hns wrote:
I personally think it's a dumb idea. If anyone is convinced about its profits, so be it, but I really doubt the benefits of the change will compensate for the sheer effort behind a possible change.
This is think is the wrong approach, there's no real way to determine how a change could effect anything.
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This is a great idea, but there is one pro-pi argument that was unaddressed:
Calculating volumes using integrals. It would be really annoying writing 1/2 tau every time instead of pi.
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On July 02 2011 20:54 writer22816 wrote:
This is a great idea, but there is one pro-pi argument that was unaddressed:
Calculating volumes using integrals. It would be really annoying writing 1/2 tau every time instead of pi.
Yes, but there's about a billion formulas around that are the opposite. Fourier transformations for instance.
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Makes sense, but i'd rather have the entire world on the metric system / SI units
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This feels incredibly unnecessary. The value is just 2pi instead of pi so the change wouldn't mean something huge like using degrees or radians. Seems to me like the mathematicians are doing this for publicity or something.
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Keep pi as it is because of the history behind it.
If you really are annoyed just define 2pi as tau, do the calculations and then go back to 2pi in the result.
Btw im a math guy.
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I love pi, but on the same time I'm sick of doing 2pi or pi*2, so tau is much better for practical use.
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On July 02 2011 21:14 Casta wrote:
Keep pi as it is because of the history behind it.
If you really are annoyed just define 2pi as tau, do the calculations and then go back to 2pi in the result.
Btw im a math guy.
Couldn't you make that argument for the SI system as well? (Or any changes to conventions in math, really). It seems like a really conservative approach.
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i'd have to get a new calculator with a tau sign.
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360 degrees equaling 1 tau radians makes a lot more sense, but its way too much work to try and change the system that the whole world uses and, as many have said, it could be put to more use by getting the whole world to use metric.
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On July 02 2011 20:52 Klipsys wrote:Show nested quote +On July 02 2011 20:50 hns wrote:
I personally think it's a dumb idea. If anyone is convinced about its profits, so be it, but I really doubt the benefits of the change will compensate for the sheer effort behind a possible change. This is think is the wrong approach, there's no real way to determine how a change could effect anything.
Well, the change in fact does not change anything fundamentally. It's not like this will make us able to obtain new theorems or proofs or whatever which we couldn't find before. This is simply a more or less cosmetic change aimed at better understandability or intuition.
On July 02 2011 21:38 Eufouria wrote:
360 degrees equaling 1 tau radians makes a lot more sense, but its way too much work to try and change the system that the whole world uses and, as many have said, it could be put to more use by getting the whole world to use metric.
360° corresponding to 1 tau has a certain appeal I must admit, yet the area of the unit circle being tau/2 instead of pi just gives me the creeps.. :o
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If they want to change things for the better, first switch to the metric system.
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On July 02 2011 20:35 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:Show nested quote +On July 02 2011 20:24 hifriend wrote:
lmao my math professor used to go on and on about tau and how it's superior to pi
is there any reason we can't use both? Well it essentially becomes redundant, to force kids to learn about two irrational numbers and many new formulas when one number is just double the other... since many formulas don't just become 2* the other formula anymore. I'm a math education guy, and I'm fine with sticking with pi. I've read the arguments for tau. Some are pretty cool, but not enough to make me a proponent for the change.
He's right Tau > Pi because tau=2pi and 2pi>Pi  .
Pi and Tau are dumb anyway. I'm a Sigma guy myself (S=3pi).
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This is the most pointless thing I've ever heard.
1) There aren't enough variables, with all of the greek and english alphabet we still have an ungodly amount of overlap taking away another one is not good. For the record lowercase pi is reserved for the most part, I don't think I've ever seen anyone use it as a variable, same with lowercase e.
2) Yes this simplifies radians but to say that it simplifies geometry is dumb. It may simplify some equations but certainly not all.
circumference = tau*r, circumference = 2*pi*r
yep that one becomes slightly easier
area=tau/2*r^2, area = pi*r^2
and that one becomes more cumbersome
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EPT
