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It's lots of fun when math geeks start to argue! (OK...it's not that much fun for most people). Anyway, since Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th (3.14), Tau Day is celebrated on June 28th (6.28).
The bible for tauists is "The Tau Manifesto". It explains all the reasons that pi is really the wrong choice in all the equations:
While there are infinitely many shapes with constant diameter (Figure 2), there is only one shape with constant radius. This suggests that a more natural definition for the circle constant might use r in place of D:
circle constant≡Cr.
Which actually makes sense since most equations make use of the radius such as 2 pi r or pi r squared.
Cr
We're all(?) familiar with the equation for the area of a circle being equal to
A=πr2.
But what if I told you that it makes more sense mathematically for it to be:
A=∫dA=∫r0Cdr=∫r0τrdr=12τr2.
See? If not, you can read the manifesto. But this form of notation is more in line with other equations from math and physics.
Here is a fun, yet educational, video on tau:
And if you can't quite see the beauty of tau, maybe you can hear it:
Be sure to visit the official Tau Day web page! And if you do go there, be sure to read the parable about the year versus half a year...it's really pretty clever.
And if you're in Southern California, you can even attend a Tau Day event with the author of The Tau Manifesto (and founder of Tau Day) Michael Hartl.
Interesting days
Today - Happy Heart Hugs Day, Tapioca Day, Paul Bunyan Day, International Body Piercing Day and Insurance Awareness Day And Tau Day, of course!
Tomorrow - Almond Buttercrunch Day, International Mud Day, Waffle Iron Day and Camera Day
Next Wednesday - Bikini Day
July 28 - Milk Chocolate Day, Talk In An Elevator Day, World Hepatitis Day and System Administrator Appreciation Day I'm sure most sys admins would appreciate some milk chocolate (I know I did when I was a sys admin). Although, I'm sure they could do without talking in an elevator (or hepatitis)
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