Pi is out! Tau is in!

[Elegiac]

Indeed, Celsius (and Fahrenheit to an even greater extent) are scales of convenience for commonly dealt with everyday temperatures. They're quite useless if we're trying to deal down to "real" heat.

Farenheit is a scale of convenience? At least Celsius' 0 and 100 degrees mark common phenomena. Furthermore, Celsius is interchangeable with Kelvin because 1 degree Celsius = 1 degree Kelvin.

[belfpala]

Farenheit is a scale of convenience? At least Celsius' 0 and 100 degrees mark common phenomena. Furthermore, Celsius is interchangeable with Kelvin because 1 degree Celsius = 1 degree Kelvin.

Hey, it only makes sense that water freezes at 32 degrees and boils at 212 degrees at sea level. Duh. Next you'll probably say it doesn't make sense that a mile is 5280 feet. /facepalm.

Now my question: Why can't those Metric people get their acts together? 2.54 centimeters to an Inch? really? Can't you use round numbers?

(SARCASM).

[Pendulous]

I don't get it. I took (and passed) a physics class in high school, but I don't remember ever using 2pi. It seems like a lot of talk over nothing, but if you want to add it to calculators, go for it.

[schwarzkopf]

Farenheit is a scale of convenience? At least Celsius' 0 and 100 degrees mark common phenomena. Furthermore, Celsius is interchangeable with Kelvin because 1 degree Celsius = 1 degree Kelvin.

A few things ... Farenheit is more a scale of convenience than Celcius as it used 0 and 100 to correspond to the normal extremes of human involvement. It was a common sense approach at the time.

Also - and think about this, whilst 1 Celcius degree = 1 Kelvin degree, 1 degree Celcius is NOT equal to 1 degree Kelvin.

[Elegiac]

Hey, it only makes sense that water freezes at 32 degrees and boils at 212 degrees at sea level. Duh. Next you'll probably say it doesn't make sense that a mile is 5280 feet. /facepalm.

(SARCASM).

-backhands- Go apologise to the SI gods.

---------- Post added 2012-11-10 at 08:38 AM ----------

A few things ... Farenheit is more a scale of convenience than Celcius as it used 0 and 100 to correspond to the normal extremes of human involvement. It was a common sense approach at the time.

Also - and think about this, whilst 1 Celcius degree = 1 Kelvin degree, 1 degree Celcius is NOT equal to 1 degree Kelvin.

Yes yes, semantics. I meant in terms of increments. 1 degree Kelvin would be just above absolute zero.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Hey, it only makes sense that water freezes at 32 degrees and boils at 212 degrees at sea level. Duh. Next you'll probably say it doesn't make sense that a mile is 5280 feet. /facepalm.

(SARCASM).

According to wikipedia he based it on three basic measurements:

the temperature of a 1:1:1 mixture of Water, ice and ammonium chloride is 0F.
the temperature of a 1:1 mixture of water and ice is 32F
the temperature of the human body is 96F

The difference between the freezing point of water and its boiling point is 180 degrees


The celcius scale is based around the triple point of water - the temperature at which pure water exists in all three physical states (solid, liquid and gas) at standard air pressure and Absolute Zero (-273.15°C, or 0K).

[belfpala]

-backhands- Go apologise to the SI gods.[COLOR="red"]

I'm probably in the minority of Americans who think in SI units. 1 tsp = 5 ml, 1 Tsp = 15 ml, 1 cup = 240 ml, 1 quart = 960 ml, and so on.

[Elegiac]

According to wikipedia he based it on three basic measurements:

the temperature of a 1:1:1 mixture of Water, ice and ammonium chloride is 0F.
the temperature of a 1:1 mixture of water and ice is 32F
the temperature of the human body is 96F

The difference between the freezing point of water and its boiling point is 180 degrees


The celcius scale is based around the triple point of water - the temperature at which pure water exists in all three physical states (solid, liquid and gas) at standard air pressure and Absolute Zero (-273.15°C, or 0K).

I think the French have it right as regards temperature. Just saying.

[belfpala]

According to wikipedia he based it on three basic measurements:

I understand the science, thank you. If I were to pick a scale based on scientific rational, I would pick the Celsius unit but the Kelvin zero point. So... the Kelvin scale.

[Elegiac]

I understand the science, thank you. If I were to pick a scale based on scientific rational, I would pick the Celsius unit but the Kelvin zero point. So... the Kelvin scale.

Hence why serious scientists use Kelvin. The Celsius/Kelvin dynamic is pretty much perfect, if you ask me.

[This name sucks]

Wouldn't this confuse the shit out of everyone when they make the transfer from tau to pi, in terms of the guy saying its very unlikely the real world will stop using pi.


Especially if they've never been taught how to use anything but tau.



Not really sure why he thinks using pi is all that hard either. I never had a problem learning geometry/trig/pre calc 30

[Elegiac]

Wouldn't this confuse the shit out of everyone when they make the transfer from tau to pi, in terms of the guy saying its very unlikely the real world will stop using pi.

Especially if they've never been taught how to use anything but tau.

Not really sure why he thinks using pi is all that hard either. I never had a problem learning geometry/trig/pre calc 30

This isn't from a pure mathematical perspective, this is from a (hur hur) didactic perspective. It's easier to teach kids Tau versus 2 Pi.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Not really sure why he thinks using pi is all that hard either. I never had a problem learning geometry/trig/pre calc 30

It isn't, some people just get off on changing stuff that doesn't need changing.

---------- Post added 2012-11-10 at 05:54 PM ----------

This isn't from a pure mathematical perspective, this is from a (hur hur) didactic perspective. It's easier to teach kids Tau versus 2 Pi.

And how is that different to teaching kids pi as opposed to tau/2?


c = 2πr
a = πr²

as opposed to

c = tr
a = (t/2)r²

It is the same damn thing.

[belfpala]

Hence why serious scientists use Kelvin. The Celsius/Kelvin dynamic is pretty much perfect, if you ask me.

I'm familiar. I did experiments with liquid helium in undergrad.

[Elegiac]

And how is that different to teaching kids pi as opposed to tau/2?


c = 2πr
a = πr²

as opposed to

c = tr
a = (t/2)r²

It is the same damn thing.

Did you watch the video or not?

[This name sucks]

This isn't from a pure mathematical perspective, this is from a (hur hur) didactic perspective. It's easier to teach kids Tau versus 2 Pi.

What I mean was teach the kids tau, but when they get a real job or go to university they are still going to be using pi.

So they won't be fully/properly prepared for the world if this transition happens.

[Elegiac]

What I mean was teach the kids tau, but when they get a real job or go to university they are still going to be using pi.

So they won't be fully/properly prepared for the world if this transition happens.

/facepalm

The idea is that the entire academic sphere would make the transition. And nobody in the "real job" world gives a shit about formulae, they only care about results.

[belfpala]

What I mean was teach the kids tau, but when they get a real job or go to university they are still going to be using pi.

So they won't be fully/properly prepared for the world if this transition happens.

The only reason to teach Tau seems to be for trig functions. As I said above, we put coefficients in front of almost everything. Kids should get used to it. As I noted above, even with tau, you have coefficients for the surface area or volume of a sphere, for example.

But then again, in terms of fundamental numbers, I don't see any difference between:

pi = C/D

or

tau = C/R

[Badpaladin]

This isn't from a pure mathematical perspective, this is from a (hur hur) didactic perspective. It's easier to teach kids Tau versus 2 Pi.

And then confuse them later on. Remember how in early math classes they called those funky negative-under-a-square-root values from the quadratic formula imaginary numbers? A good lot of students get confused as hell for a while when they find out that not only are those values not "imaginary", but they pop up everywhere and have very tangible uses.

Once formulas make use of pi (and not 2*pi) later on, it's going to have to be defined as (tau/2), which is just going to end up confusing students.

[Spectral]

Farenheit is a scale of convenience? At least Celsius' 0 and 100 degrees mark common phenomena. Furthermore, Celsius is interchangeable with Kelvin because 1 degree Celsius = 1 degree Kelvin.

Yeah, Fahrenheit's quite intuitive for people that have always used it. It's fairly German centric in nature, and I grew up in an area that has similar weather to the chilly parts of Germany. For me, zero has always meant really fucking cold and 100 has always meant really fucking hot. It works well for looking temperatures outside, and it has more granularity than Celsius does.

Celsius is an obviously better system for anything that's not describing weather though.

---------- Post added 2012-11-10 at 01:38 PM ----------

I'm probably in the minority of Americans who think in SI units. 1 tsp = 5 ml, 1 Tsp = 15 ml, 1 cup = 240 ml, 1 quart = 960 ml, and so on.

I go back and forth pretty easily. Stupid lab work.