Pi may be wrong, but so is Tau!

A response to the recent talk about scrapping Pi as the fundamental circle constant and replacing it with Tau. I think BOTH are wrong and we should use a different constant Eta = Pi/2 = Tau/4

Category:

Education

Tags:

• eta
• pi
• tau
• maths
• circle
• trigonometry
• complex
• numbers

[gmam96]

i thought the circumfrance (however you spell it) is written as R?

[DavidButlerAdelaide]

@gmam96 All depends on location and teacher -- different people use different letters -- especially if they're using different languages! Technically you can choose to write an unknown in a formula as whatever letter you like.

[ano0maly]

Hi DavidButlerAdelaide,

Is there any source advocating eta or tau/4? I couldn't find any. It would be nice if this idea started gaining traction like tau did.

While it sounds promising in some areas relating to right angles, I still think tau better encapsulates the circle as a whole.

[DavidButlerAdelaide]

@ano0maly The only source advocating eta I know of is this video. And I'm not sure I totally agree that the idea should gain traction, except as a way of pointing out that you can make compelling arguments about many things.

[guineapig713]

Here's the non-mathy reason why eta will never gain popularity:

When I first saw videos in support of tau, I was immediately hooked because it made so much sense. I was willing to drop pi instantly and started sharing tau with other people. When I think about eta, I'm just not as excited about it. Explaining eta in radians is annoying, the name "eta" is weak and the symbol is like a mopey "n." I just can't imagine people rallying behind a mopey "n."

[DavidButlerAdelaide]

@guineapig713 Firstly, the tau people explain tau in radians already. Secondly, you don't HAVE to explain it in radians -- eta is a right angle, and how simple is that? Thirdly, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, the name "eta" has such scope for puns: eta pi ...

[Walabio]

You show insight, but something deeper exists:

People focused on pi because they naturally measured across and around circles. Tau, because it reflects the fundamental properties of circles is more fundamental. For circles, Tau is best.

For trigonometry, quadrants of circles are fundamental. We can define Eta to mean quadrant.

Tau for the whole circle for circular calculations and Eta for a quadrant of a circle for trigonometric calculations are both more fundamental than Pi bisecting it.

[mustymoose94]

Everything you said is convincing, but you can't have Eta Day can you?? January 57th doesnt exist :D and even if it did, it'd be half a pie, a quarter of a tau, but on Tau die, i'll be having two pies :) lol

[Joshbuckler]

next question: what is the Fundamental Integer? In other words, what is the most integery integer?

[Joshbuckler]

I like it. Now I guess you could say we have a whole Pi Family. Papa Pi, or Tau, is the biggest at 6.2831. Mama Pi is the Pi we all know and love at 3.1415. And Baby Pi is Eta, at 1.5707.

[amundeii]

I don't think you've read enough of the support of tau. The convenience of tau goes much deeper than the simple fact that it is C/r (which should almost be enough). Eta may be convenient in some ways that you state, but tau is more convenient than pi in practically every way.

[krakklan]

I think you're wasting your time here people. Arguing about things which differ only by moltiplicative constants. It's absolutely the same, whatever you choose pi, tau or eta, the math behind it wont change. You can make some formulas simpler, but other will get more complicated. Remember that pi (or tau or eta) is not only used in trigonometrics, but also everywhere: complex numbers, calculating areas, analytical series etc. Don't loose time with constants, it won't get you anywhere.

[abrelosojo]

how about we give a name to every rational multipul of tau?