Mathematicians Want to Say Goodbye to Pi



I was always bad at math in school, but there was always one thing even the worst math students could remember: pi equals about 3.14. Now the importance of pi in mathematics is being challenged. So take that seventh grade math teacher.
Last year, Palais' followers gave the new constant, 2pi, a name: tau. Since then, the tau movement has steadily grown, with its members hoping to replace pi as it appears in textbooks and calculators with tau, the true idol of math. Yesterday — 6/28 — they even celebrated Tau Day in math events worldwide.

But is pi really "wrong"? And if it is, why is tau better?

The mathematicians aren't saying that pi has been wrongly calculated. Its value is still approximately 3.14, as it always was. Rather they argue that 3.14 isn't the value that matters most when it comes to circles. Palais originally argued that pi should be changed to equal (approximately) 6.28 while others prefer giving that number a new name altogether.

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yuck.
pi/4 is a much better choice.
it's a nice normalized value (0.785398163) and is the ratio of area of a circle inscribed in a square (or for that matter any quarter of the circle and square taken individually)

Also it has a very easy to remember derivation:
1 - 1/3 + 1/5 - 1/7 + 1/9 - 1/11 ...
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There are, at least, as many formules with pi as formules with tau in them. Pi has never been an issue in the past, and I guess this fashion too shall pass. We could, e.g., change the constant in the area of the triangle (you know, that annoying one half), but... wait! what happens with the area of the rectangle?
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Why bother the general public with this? It's not our fault.

Like how the big bang wasn't really a big bang. Not our fault. Some dufus scientist made that up and now we're stuck with it. So deal with it smart alecks; it's your own fault.

Also I don't care.
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