Happy Tau Day

Science
YouTube player

Vi Hart pushes back on Pi and whole Pi Day thingy.

8 thoughts on “Happy Tau Day

  1. Jeanette says:

    (insert engineering nerdery) I object to the use of τ on the basis that it’s already in use as a time constant. Try η (eta) instead.

    1. Dave Brunker (@dbrunker) says:

      You know what Jeanette, I’m…quite frankly I’m sick and tired of the neo-Bourbakist hegemony using their quibbling sophistry to maintain the ivory tower, status-quo control of the common man by uh… by uh… kinda lost my train of thought there… Well… if give me a piece of Vi’s cherry pie we’ll call it a draw.

  2. Mark Sherman (@brazentone) says:

    Interesting. I see the basic pedagogical complaint. She’s not wrong, but she did do a little bit of hand-waving. That made sense when she admitted that this was someone else’s material and idea.
    I really, really, don’t like her attack angle of “radians ARE confusing,” as if that’s a fact. Radians make perfect sense, it’s degrees that we’re born and bred with that’s actually f’d up. If you train radian usage properly, and get past that initial resistance to regress to degrees, use pi or tau or whatever you want, because you already won. (though tau is spoken for in many disciplines, as already commented, so you would be introducing confusion at a later time)

  3. Joseph Walls (@Teethingtabs) says:

    I’ve got Tau to 13 digits and pi only to 11. I’ll celebrate both days, as I do love pie so.

Comments are closed.

Discuss this article with the rest of the community on our Discord server!
Tagged

Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. His free weekly-ish maker tips newsletter can be found at garstipsandtools.com.

View more articles by Gareth Branwyn

ADVERTISEMENT

Maker Faire Bay Area 2023 - Mare Island, CA

Escape to an island of imagination + innovation as Maker Faire Bay Area returns for its 15th iteration!

Buy Tickets today! SAVE 15% and lock-in your preferred date(s).

FEEDBACK