two pi, or not two pi?

Pi is like the QWERTY typewriter keyboard: too entrenched in the culture to be uprooted. But, Pi's users being about 98% unsentimental nerd, Tau will likely gain prominence. Pi will continue exist in popular culture but become non-existent in the pragmatic technical universe.

QWERTY, on the other hand, will mystify our grandchildren, when by then its historic explanations will exist only on obsolete unreadable media. And they will gnash their teeth in frustration that it cannot be replaced because its entrenchment is too deep - it'd be like ripping out an entire vascular system and replacing it with something else without killing the patient.

The other thing we're stuck with for a long time to come is graphic display technology based on an X-Y pixel grid instead of a hexagonal grid. Most cellular grids in nature are hexagonal - it's what's naturally efficient. The "pixellating" that so mars many electronic graphics images would be substantially reduced if the grid were hexagonal, which would provide three unpixellated axes instead of just two. But, the sheer inertia of entrenched standards, incorporated into a vast diverse "infrastructure" of applications prohibits a hexagonal grid from ever getting any farther than the Dvorak keyboard and other laboratory experiments.

Thankfully the aluminum beer can appears so far to be a perfect fit of purpose and technology, as ageless as continents, so we can cry in our beer about the eternal permanence of Pi and QWERTY without having to cry about the beer too, and that's what life is really all about anyway, cracking open a perfect can of beer and having a slice of pi.

 

This thread is completely irrational.

 

XC = 1/(2πfC) CAPACITIVE REACTANCE

XL = 2πfL INDUCTIVE REACTANCE

2π comes in handy in my RF world!

 

People have been kicking this around for some time. I can't get excited about it, as either is equally easy for me to use.

Tom

 

It is a factor of 2, so easy. Pi is everywhere and isn't going anywhere.

 

ω = 2πf. I've written jωC more times than I can count.

Tom

 

I prefer bottles.
I have yet to see a "perfect" can of beer.

 

But then the area of a circle is 1/2 tau r squared. Awkward.

 

Then there's the more logical dozenal system to replace our current decimal system.

Think about it, we have 12-packs of beverages, donuts come in dozens, 12 months in a year, 12 inches in a foot, unique names for our numbers up to 12 (then start with teens). Twelve joints in our fingers, so we can still count on our fingers. Plus it's easier to make fractions out of 12, since it's divisible by 2, 3,4 and 6, compared to just 2 and 5 for base 10.

DSGB

Another good idea that will never come to pass. Tau has a much better chance of acceptance, at least in certain areas of mathematics.

 

two pies, or not two pi?

I like pi...


I like pie too...

 

Well, there are sound reasons for keeping a square grid for displays. Where hexagonal grids would really be useful is in road grids. A hexagonal grid gets rid of most stop lights (small three way intersections don't need any control mechanisms, three road rotarys work for larger roads, and highway interchanges can be made with only one overpass, and in much smaller area. Distance travelled is substantially smaller for any two random locations (I seem to recall 12% from when I did the math many years ago).

 

That's loony.

 

Obviously astronomy should be 13 based.

 

Astrology WAS... until the christian era...

 

All that you touch
All that you see
All that you taste
All you feel.
All that you love
All that you hate
All you distrust
All you save.
All that you give
All that you deal
All that you buy,
beg, borrow or steal.
All you create
All you destroy
All that you do
All that you say.
All that you eat
And everyone you meet
All that you slight
And everyone you fight.
All that is now
All that is gone
All that's to come
and everything under the sun is in tune
but the sun is eclipsed by the moon.


"There is no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact it's all dark."

 

Pi are round. Cornbread are square.

Silly kids.

 

I was going to say that but didn't want to sound corny.