4 ms·

Tau is easier than Pi (2014)

20 points by ajoy 7y ago

senderista 7y ago
I have yet to hear of a single well-known mathematician who gives a damn about this.
- surewhynat 7y ago
  The largest benefit as far as I can see is to lower the barrier of entry to mathematics for young people. Well known mathematicians have already passed this barrier so perhaps it's not as relatable a problem to them. I for one would have loved to learn Tau instead of Pi, and I believe educators would love to have a more engaged classroom as well.
  - geoalchimista 7y ago
    Does defining tau := 2 * pi make math easier at all?
    - ncmncm 7y ago
      Yes. In particular, teaching tau instead of pi makes many operations in trigonometry more intuitive. It doesn't matter to mathematicians because they have spent many years learning to suppress their intuition. It does matter to engineers and technicians.
smitty1e 7y ago
> Manifesto author Michael Hartl received his PhD in theoretical physics from the California Institute of Technology and is only one in a string of established players beginning to question the orthodoxy. Oh, I get it. Hartl is the Learn Enough[1] and especially Ruby on Rails Tutorial[2] guy. This whole Tau thing is a cryptic anti-Python troll. [1] https://www.learnenough.com/ https://www.learnenough.com/ [2] https://www.learnenough.com/ruby-on-rails-6th-edition https://www.learnenough.com/ruby-on-rails-6th-edition
- ncmncm 7y ago
  Obviously not.
gigama 7y ago
"For mathematicians, pi obscures some of the underlying symmetries of mathematics and muddies up what should be elegant with extraneous factors of two. There’s an admittedly grandiose idea that mathematics is the language with which we express and see certain underpinning truths to the universe." I don't think it's overly "grandiose"... what other language can express such fundamentals and find relationships between them? And so mathematical understanding will always benefit from natural simplifications. There's no "issue" if we just allow both pi and tau -- calling on each as it suits the equations at hand. They're both symbols for irrational numbers so use whichever has the least number of terms. If you mean pi use pi and if you mean 2 * pi, as is common in Fourier transforms, just use tau. Teach both and negate the popularity contests. Then we can celebrate March 14th and June 28th with equal fan-fare.
BoiledCabbage 7y ago
Read the actual 'Tao Manifesto" webpage which does a much better job of describing it than this article. https://tauday.com/tau-manifesto https://tauday.com/tau-manifesto

20 points by ajoy 7y ago

senderista 7y ago

I have yet to hear of a single well-known mathematician who gives a damn about this.

surewhynat 7y ago
The largest benefit as far as I can see is to lower the barrier of entry to mathematics for young people. Well known mathematicians have already passed this barrier so perhaps it's not as relatable a problem to them. I for one would have loved to learn Tau instead of Pi, and I believe educators would love to have a more engaged classroom as well.
- geoalchimista 7y ago
  Does defining tau := 2 * pi make math easier at all?
  - ncmncm 7y ago
    Yes. In particular, teaching tau instead of pi makes many operations in trigonometry more intuitive. It doesn't matter to mathematicians because they have spent many years learning to suppress their intuition. It does matter to engineers and technicians.

smitty1e 7y ago

> Manifesto author Michael Hartl received his PhD in theoretical physics from the California Institute of Technology and is only one in a string of established players beginning to question the orthodoxy. Oh, I get it. Hartl is the Learn Enough[1] and especially Ruby on Rails Tutorial[2] guy. This whole Tau thing is a cryptic anti-Python troll. [1] https://www.learnenough.com/ https://www.learnenough.com/ [2] https://www.learnenough.com/ruby-on-rails-6th-edition https://www.learnenough.com/ruby-on-rails-6th-edition

ncmncm 7y ago
Obviously not.

gigama 7y ago

"For mathematicians, pi obscures some of the underlying symmetries of mathematics and muddies up what should be elegant with extraneous factors of two. There’s an admittedly grandiose idea that mathematics is the language with which we express and see certain underpinning truths to the universe." I don't think it's overly "grandiose"... what other language can express such fundamentals and find relationships between them? And so mathematical understanding will always benefit from natural simplifications. There's no "issue" if we just allow both pi and tau -- calling on each as it suits the equations at hand. They're both symbols for irrational numbers so use whichever has the least number of terms. If you mean pi use pi and if you mean 2 * pi, as is common in Fourier transforms, just use tau. Teach both and negate the popularity contests. Then we can celebrate March 14th and June 28th with equal fan-fare.

BoiledCabbage 7y ago

Read the actual 'Tao Manifesto" webpage which does a much better job of describing it than this article. https://tauday.com/tau-manifesto https://tauday.com/tau-manifesto