4 ms·

I'm guessing based on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendental_number https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendental_number that what the author in-consistent

I'm guessing based on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendental_number https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendental_number that what the author in-consistently refers to as "p" (though, later there is a reference to "e or pi" - is actually pi, or π - I don't think I've ever seen pi referred to as "p" - anybody care to hazard a guess as to why the author did so?

danbruc 11y ago
The source looks like this so I guess it is a font issue on your side, I see the proper symbol for pi. p
- markild 11y ago
 One can argue that its more a typographic issue than a font issue. The author probably did see a "pi", but should have been using an embedded font, or even better, the unicode "GREEK SMALL LETTER PI", π.
 - jerf 11y ago
 My only problem with the Unicode GREEK SMALL LETTER PI is that it consistently renders on the systems I've used as a square with the bottom portion cut off. This must be intentional, because I just zoomed in to this page to an absurd degree and it consistently renders that way even at 36+ pts. It makes sense to me that in day-to-day life with real Greek the simpler rendering is superior, it doesn't match the traditional mathematical rendering very well.
 - witty_username 11y ago
 Pi only seems to render like a square on certain fonts.
 - jerf 11y ago
 Which is why I've qualified my statement, on account of it only being the case sometimes.
 - markild 11y ago
 If you go to this[1] page and click "View All", you'll see that it's "Verdana" or "Tahoma", two pretty common web fonts, that are likely to be the culprit. [1]: http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/03c0/fontsupport.htm http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/03c0/fontsuppor...
 - robinhouston 11y ago
 There is always U+1D70B MATHEMATICAL ITALIC SMALL PI, but it isn’t available in very many fonts.
 - jerf 11y ago
 Unicode: The solution to, and the cause of, all life's font problems.
bru 11y ago
In the source you'll find every occurence of pi as p Apparently the Symbol typeface has π as p: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbol_(typeface)#Encoding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbol_(typeface)#Encoding. I guess that ones who has the correct font installed will see the expected character.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

danbruc 11y ago

The source looks like this so I guess it is a font issue on your side, I see the proper symbol for pi. p

markild 11y ago
One can argue that its more a typographic issue than a font issue. The author probably did see a "pi", but should have been using an embedded font, or even better, the unicode "GREEK SMALL LETTER PI", π.
- jerf 11y ago
  My only problem with the Unicode GREEK SMALL LETTER PI is that it consistently renders on the systems I've used as a square with the bottom portion cut off. This must be intentional, because I just zoomed in to this page to an absurd degree and it consistently renders that way even at 36+ pts. It makes sense to me that in day-to-day life with real Greek the simpler rendering is superior, it doesn't match the traditional mathematical rendering very well.
  - witty_username 11y ago
    Pi only seems to render like a square on certain fonts.
    - jerf 11y ago
      Which is why I've qualified my statement, on account of it only being the case sometimes.
  - markild 11y ago
    If you go to this[1] page and click "View All", you'll see that it's "Verdana" or "Tahoma", two pretty common web fonts, that are likely to be the culprit. [1]: http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/03c0/fontsupport.htm http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/03c0/fontsuppor...
  - robinhouston 11y ago
    There is always U+1D70B MATHEMATICAL ITALIC SMALL PI, but it isn’t available in very many fonts.
    - jerf 11y ago
      Unicode: The solution to, and the cause of, all life's font problems.

bru 11y ago

In the source you'll find every occurence of pi as p Apparently the Symbol typeface has π as p: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbol_(typeface)#Encoding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbol_(typeface)#Encoding. I guess that ones who has the correct font installed will see the expected character.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]