
Happy Tau Day, the true circle constant - gakos
https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2018/3/14/17119388/pi-day-pie-math-tau-circle-constant-mathematics-circumference-diameter-radius-holiday-truth
======
gakos
Tau > Pi?

But what will we eat on Tau day? Tau-cos have my vote. A tortilla is still a
circle we can describe mathematically with tau.

~~~
java-man
interestingly, taco shape looks like half pie...

~~~
gakos
Actually, that'd be one Pi but half Tau! Ha!!

------
adverbly
I told this to my girlfriend and explained to her what tau is. She responded
that she actually had bought two pies just a few hours ago. Excellent.

~~~
gakos
So good. 2 pies = 2 Taus though. Ha!

------
nikofeyn
the argument for tau is so silly, and it seems to be mainly supported by non-
mathematicians. i don’t know of any real mathematician that cares. and it’s
because it’s a toss-up really. so people just keep going. there’s more
importnat things to do.

~~~
gakos
Sure, more important things to do. But isn't a minimal change to a plethora of
formulas that simplifies things worth consideration? How far are you along the
circumference of a circle? Or what's this angle in radians? Isn't Tau _r vs 2_
Pi*r easier both conceptually and computationally?

~~~
nikofeyn
when i was doing graduate mathematics, i felt that there were just as many
formulas that would be hurt by a change to tau as there were those helped by
it. proponents of tau seem to cherry pick and don’t showcase everywhere that
you’ll pick up tau/2, which is objectively more awkward than occurences of pi
and 2*pi. switching to tau isn’t a change that is a global simplification.

~~~
gakos
Fair point. Can you share some more detailed examples?

Disclaimer: I posted this article originally because of the humor component,
but I also think it's a legitimate conversation to have.

