Tau Day

Tau, known as the circle constant, is actually something you should be familiar with and here's why:

2 x Pi = Tau

and we all know what pi (=3.14159...) is.

So, if we were to recall the area of a circle in terms of tau and not pi, it will then be:

Area of circle = Tau x Radius

That means that the area of a unit circle i.e. Radius = 1 will simply be:

Area of unit circle = Tau

It seems that the definition of Tau helps to simplify mathematics, and so the boggling question is why are we using Pi and not Tau in most mathematics convention?

There are two groups of people in the Pi versus Tau game:

1) Here's an article on why Tau trumps Pi.

2) Here's an article on why Pi is the one way to go. (If this article is too lengthy, I would advise that you watch this video at least.)

Read them both and then decide for yourself if you prefer Pi or Tau. For those on the Tau-side, unfortunately, the mathematics world is still more keen on using Pi and so please stick to it.. For those on the Pi-side, please continue fighting for it as you never know when Tau might win over the hearts of the majority one day.

Before I veer off course for the focus of this blog post, today is Tau Day, the 28 of June, or more specifically 6/28 if you write the month first and then the day. This day has been designated as Tau Day as Tau = 2 x Pi = 6.283185.... (Yes, we mathematicians like to find all sorts of days to celebrate something mathematical.)

So, to celebrate Tau Day, please refer to here for all things Tau :) 

Have a Happy Tau-Tues-Day from us at the HSS Mathematics Department!