4 ms·

So in what way does tau do worse?

• antonvs 5y ago
  It kinda ruins Euler's identity.
  • caylus 5y ago
    Arguably it makes it more clear what's really going on. With tau, the identity can be formulated either: - e^(iτ) = 1, meaning that taking a full revolution around the complex plane brings you back to 1, where you started - e^(iτ/2) = -1, meaning that taking a half revolution takes you to the opposite of where you started, -1. If you insist on the "contains the additive identity" formulation (which IMO is gratuitous because e^(ix) is all about the complex plane, not regular addition and multiplication), you can do either e^(iτ) + 0 = 1, or e^(iτ) - 1 = 0.
    • antonvs 5y ago
      Good points, I was just thinking about it superficially.