Pi Day Is Coming — But Tau Day Is Better

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Pi Day Is Coming — But Tau Day Is Better

Posted by Soulskill on Monday March 12, 2012 @06:08AM from the circular-logic dept.

PerlJedi writes "A few months ago, a Tweet from Randal Schwartz pointed me to a YouTube video about 'Triangle Parties' made by Vi Hart. My nerdiness and my love of math made it my new favorite thing on YouTube. Now, with Pi Day coming up later this week, I thought it would be an appropriate time to point people to another of her YouTube videos: Pi is Wrong. The website she mentions at the end, Tauday, has a full explanation of the benefits of using Tau rather than Pi. Quoting: 'The Tau Manifesto is dedicated to one of the most important numbers in mathematics, perhaps the most important: the circle constant relating the circumference of a circle to its linear dimension. For millennia, the circle has been considered the most perfect of shapes, and the circle constant captures the geometry of the circle in a single number. Of course, the traditional choice for the circle constant is pi — but, as mathematician Bob Palais notes in his delightful article "Pi Is Wrong!", pi is wrong. It's time to set things right.'"

9 of 241 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Agreed by Ardeaem · 2012-03-12 06:12 · Score: 5, Funny

What, pi is 14.3? When did that happen?
1. Re:Agreed by wjh31 · 2012-03-12 06:22 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  22/7 is actually more accurate than 3.14 (0.05% vs 0.04%)
2. Re:Agreed by cyachallenge · 2012-03-12 07:42 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  The Mnemonic Method of Loci does wonders for remembering digits. I just started with it and on the second day I have Pi at 50 without much effort. From memory: 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751
3. Re:Agreed by HapSlappy_2222 · 2012-03-12 09:01 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  For now I don't really see the practical use of remembering Pi to that extent.
  Chicks.
Cant eat a slice of Tau to celebrate. by Kenja · 2012-03-12 06:12 · Score: 5, Insightful

Thing is, we like pie. Being able to eat a Pi sized slice of Pi at 1:59 on 3.14 is a geeky excuse to consume treats.

--

"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Tau day is better by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · 2012-03-12 06:16 · Score: 5, Funny

Tau day is better because I have an excuse to get 2 pies instead of just one. I still celebrate pie day as well as groundhog day, mmmmm ground hog).

--
Time to offend someone
Four thirds pi! by Geoffrey.landis · 2012-03-12 06:21 · Score: 5, Interesting

Wait, what about four-thirds pi, the constant that relates the volume of a sphere to the radius???
Using 2pi as the so-called "constant" is two-dimensional chauvinism!

--
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
Re:Bah. e is better than them all by Bob+Hearn · 2012-03-12 06:31 · Score: 5, Funny

Then, when somebody wants to argue that twice e is actually a better constant, we can say "2e or not 2e, that is the question."
Niether side is convincing by sdhankin · 2012-03-12 06:46 · Score: 5, Funny

Both are irrational.