Re: [Phys-L] playing for keeps

[Larry Smith <larry.smith@snow.edu>]

In honor of Tau Day yesterday (6.28), I mention that the formula for the area of a circle makes more sense and is more consistent with other quadratic forms if tau is used in place of pi.

http://tauday.com/

I would like to see a physics textbook that uses tau instead of pi.  Bruce?...

Larry




On Jun 29, 2013, at 3:17 PM, Bruce Sherwood wrote:

> Good engineering and science students at good universities have memorized
> the formulas C = 2*pi*R and A = pi*R^2 but often do not know which applies
> when to what, nor that there is any connection to things they really do
> know. It would be awfully useful somewhere to start with the circumference
> being about 4*(2R) = 8R (the circumference of the bounding square) and then
> see that this is only a bit bigger than 2*pi*R, and to start with the area
> being about (2R)^2 = 4R^2 (the area of the bounding square) and then see
> that this is only a bit bigger than pi*R^2.
>
> An example of confusion is the frequently seen A = 2pi*R^2.
>
> Bruce
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