These are reasonable arguments for why tau is better, if you had to wipe the slate clean and choose new conventions for everything. But in this case pi has historical value and it would be detrimental to try to change it and have a mess of notation/conflicts with past books, papers, etc.

julianto

2292 Posts

July 02 2011 04:20 GMT

#84

On July 02 2011 13:15 Maliris wrote:
If they want to change this, they should use a different letter/symbol instead of Tau which isn't already being used by other things

Might I propose the symbol, "donut", which is a small circle within a bigger circle?

Z3kk

4099 Posts

July 02 2011 04:22 GMT

#85

No need to use "tau". The change will not do much at all. It's fine as it is.

Chimpalimp

United States1135 Posts

July 02 2011 04:24 GMT

#86

On July 02 2011 13:20 julianto wrote:

Show nested quote +

Might I propose the symbol, "donut", which is a small circle within a bigger circle?

We could call it the Torus! Even though doughnut is far more delicious. But I think its still more trouble than its worth. A more useful thing would be to add more symbols to mathematics, the Greeks just didn't make enough.

Randomaccount#77123

United States5003 Posts

July 02 2011 04:26 GMT

#87

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Zdrastochye

Ivory Coast6262 Posts

July 02 2011 04:29 GMT

#88

My girlfriend and I's anniversary is on pi day, which would be considerably less significant if it was tau day, so I think it should stay.

Samhax

1054 Posts

July 02 2011 04:32 GMT

#89

What is this? Does we need to discuss something superficial like that? for me it's just looks like a change for the sake of change, i think this guy should go work in fashion model if he likes making pointless changes.

Like other people said it, why he doesn't talk about real needed changes like metric system in US?

MaxField

United States2386 Posts

July 02 2011 04:33 GMT

#90

BASE 8 before TAU!!!!!
AND METRIC!!!
haha, I doubt people will ever change, just like we will probably never have a universal language, people do not like to switch what they already love.

Pigsquirrel

United States615 Posts

July 02 2011 04:36 GMT

#91

It's really a debate over which is easier, multiplying by 2 or dividing by 2.
If we keep using pi, area = pi(r)^2 and circumference will be 2pi(r). If we use tau, area is (tau/2)r^2 and circumference is tau(r). Which is the prettier set?

Picklesicle

United States64 Posts

July 02 2011 04:36 GMT

#92

On July 02 2011 12:57 RezChi wrote:
Keep pi as it is... it's going to be a huge hassle re-writing textbooks and changing peoples knowledge of pi to "tau" ~_~

I'm sorry, but this is an awful reason to not change to tau as the standard. I'm not intentionally singling you out as many people have made this exact same statement, it's just that under sheer weight of volume yours was the one that tipped me into actually bothering to respond.

Textbooks are rewritten and updated relatively frequently to reflect the fact that new things are discovered and old things are being changed. Additionally, priorities for what is or is not critical to be taught at different levels also changes over time and is frequently being reviewed. It isn't being suggested that the mathematics education change *right now*, but that it should be a standard that is phased in as a replacement for pi *as a standard*.

Pi isn't going away; see my and other earlier posts as well as the some others not on this site. Also look to some of the popular articles on it, let alone some of the less-mainstream literature.

In daily tech.

In math blog.

for some popular ones.

Rather, introducing tau into mainstream education could make a lot of geometry and complex more intuitive. There are certainly instances in which pi works better; no one is denying that, and it could be a mistake to try and make tau a standard for many of the functions of pi. I don't think it is, but I have no issue with being proved wrong.

The tau-proponents have, in many instances, done an awful job of arguing their case. Or at least, the awful jobs are getting a lot of attention. The "No, really, pi is wrong" article (which is responded to more frequently than the article it references) relies on a sensationalist title and a some important looking functions (okay, they are really important, just not really for the purposes of the article!) to drive home the point that... there's really nothing wrong with pi, tau is just more elegant in many geometric functions, which is where pi originated.
The weakness of their arguments doesn't mean their conclusion is wrong, any more than the weakness of your argument means that your conclusion is wrong.

But your argument given above has the frightening corollary: if it isn't earth-shattering, and might take just a bit of work, why bother teaching it? I sincerely hope I, and in fact most others, have brought better to the table for ours students than that.
I sincerely hope that most people have a desire to learn and adapt that goes beyond this.

Nialiv

Chile10 Posts

July 02 2011 04:38 GMT

#93

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Plexa

Aotearoa39261 Posts

July 02 2011 04:44 GMT

#94

As a mathematician.
This is trivial.

Djzapz

Canada10681 Posts

July 02 2011 04:50 GMT

#95

I have come to the conclusion that don't do it.

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=integrate e^(-x^2) from -infinity to infinity

teekesselchen

Germany886 Posts

July 02 2011 04:53 GMT

#96

Since I learned the way how the number Pi was found in the first place in school, I think it is a good number because there is a logical way how it was created. If pupils learn that, they'll understand it much better than Tau.

And I think that pupils will always have to know pi. Introducing just another symbol replacing 2pi is just even more confusing!

Deleted_143

Australia256 Posts

July 02 2011 04:56 GMT

#97

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Djzapz

Canada10681 Posts

July 02 2011 05:01 GMT

#98

On July 02 2011 13:56 Klesky wrote:

Show nested quote +

The use of tau simplifies a lot of other things that use 2pi. So because of this one example you've found, you want to just stick with that? edit - that equation is part of the Gaussian distribution, which uses 2pi, so there you go.

You could argue it's pretty trivial like plexa did just above, but I guess it really depends on what you find important in mathematics. If you're one for elegance and funadementality (if that's a word) then you'd probably want to go with tau.

If you're one for the imperial system because you think your car drives farther when it uses gallons of petrol rather than litres, then you'd be one for pi I'd assume.

I was kidding as it's the one thing I can think of, don't hurt me please.

Ponyo

United States1231 Posts

July 02 2011 05:03 GMT

#99

i like pie. Tau burgers no good. Gogo

And metric system no good

taldarimAltar

973 Posts

July 02 2011 05:05 GMT

#100

On July 02 2011 13:44 Plexa wrote:
As a mathematician.
This is trivial.

I agree, simply multiplying pi by 2 or dividing tau to get pi is no problem, i don't think it has hardly any benefits other than simplifying some things. I grew learning w pi, and i don't think i'll use tau even if it became standard and i didn't have a pressing need to ie. job. If it ain't broken why fix it?