4 ms·

I don't know if this visualization is really useful for those who know that circumference = diameter * pi

• cracki 17y ago
  the visualization isn't meant for those who know that.
  • zackattack 17y ago
    It rolls so quickly, I would find it difficult for anyone who doesn't know this to grasp the fact. It took me a second, and I'm awesome at basic mathematics. BTW, diameter here = 1. Anyone else thought that π(n) was referring to a graph of the density of prime numbers? :P
    • skolor 17y ago
      It took me three watchings to figure out what they were trying to demonstrate. Between the colors (not to harp on the color blindness thing, but those color choices were dreadful) and the speed of the animation, its relatively difficult to even understand what is happening the first few times through.
    • zeynel1 17y ago
      I agree. The version here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_talk:Pi-unrolled.gif http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_talk:Pi-unrolled.gif appears to move slower. I think it's better.
  • nopassrecover 17y ago
    If you didn't know that, HN probably isn't the right place to start learning it.
  • allenbrunson 17y ago
    for me, the comment i'm replying to shows a red dot, just to the right of the up/down arrows. i've seen a couple of other comments with such a dot. anybody know what it means?
    • superkarn 17y ago
      pg's experiement http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=844979 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=844979
    • chriskelley 17y ago
      It means the comment has reached the "good" threshold and has 5+ upvotes. See: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=846123 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=846123
• pmichaud 17y ago
  I think the point is that even if you "know" that, you might not "get" it intuitively. This animation is supposed to help you "get" it, and even though it's a bit too fast, I think it does a great job.