Re: [Phys-L] The traditional value of Pi is three!

["Marx, David" <dtmarx@ilstu.edu>]

I disagree with all that use 10 m/s^2 as the value of the acceleration due to gravity in their courses.  While the physics is the same, the value of the acceleration is not 10.  Generally, the introductory course includes a lab component, and often times, there is an exercise fr students to measure the value of g.  When they go into the lab, it is expected that they will measure the value to be close to 9.8 m/s^2, not 10.  What confuse students?  Why not just use the best value?   Precision is important.  Should we use 9 x 10^-31 kg as the mass of the electron or 2 x 10^-19 C for its charge?  Why didn't the international community define the speed of light as exactly 3 x 10^8 m/s?  

I encourage people on this list to use the best values for constants, not the approximate values.



-----Original Message-----
From: Phys-l <phys-l-bounces@mail.phys-l.org> On Behalf Of Anthony Lapinski
Sent: Friday, March 15, 2019 5:54 PM
To: Phys <Phys-L@phys-l.org>
Cc: nancyseese@redshift.com; phys-l@mail.phys-l.org
Subject: Re: [Phys-L] The traditional value of Pi is three!

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It certainly makes calculations easier. I use g = 10 in my classes, and kids appreciate it without losing any physics.

On Thu, Mar 14, 2019 at 6:53 PM bernard cleyet <bernard@cleyet.org> wrote:

> https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/alabamas-slice-of-pi/?utm_medium=ema
> il&utm_campaign=Daily%20Debunker%20-%20Wednesday%2014%20March%202019%2
> 0-%20Happy%20Pi%20Day%20-%20recwQzIVRFhCl7Sl8&utm_content=Daily%20Debu
> nker%20-%20Wednesday%2014%20March%202019%20-%20Happy%20Pi%20Day%20-%20
> recwQzIVRFhCl7Sl8+CID_b71bbaf5606e1fb4d94330060249b4d2&utm_source=Camp
> aignMonitor&utm_term=Read%20more
>
>
>
> bc reads Snopes.
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