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Re: The Reason Why Tau Is Fundamental And Why Pi Is Not
Posted:
Jan 5, 2013 5:06 AM
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From J.B. Wood:
> Hello, and your reasoning is way too philosophical for me. I'm just a
> dumb research engineer who uses math to quantify observed results. I
> certainly am interested in the properties of particular constants both
> mathematical and physical as they describe what we observe in nature. I
> really don't care how folks label them, just how these constants are
> used in problem solving. My background is primarily electromagnetic
> theory (antennas and wave propagation) and I use Pi, e, and sqrt(-1)
> quite a bit. Sincerely,
>
> --
> J. B. Wood e-mail: arl_123234@hotmail.com
When Michael Hartl, author of the Tau Manifesto, gives persuasive arguments for Tau he doesn't stop with mathematical or aesthetic or philosophical reasons, but he even dives into metaphysical and spiritual reasons! The biggest reason he picked the letter Tau is probably because it sounds like Tao. He goes so far as to present the Yin-Yang circle sliced with radian (/Tau) markers.
If that doesn't get your juices flowing, there's still plenty of excitement to be had at practical application levels. For the stuff you're into, I expect that you're a fan of phasors and Euler's Formula. I've heard some very smart people say that they are lacking in understanding of what Euler's Formula is saying. But it presents a very simple geometric understanding. What the e and i's are shouting out is that sine and cosine are as geometrically fundamental as the circle!
Here's the graphical explanation, in case you hadn't seen this before:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sine_and_Cosine_fundamental_relationship_to_Circle_%28and_Helix%29.gif
For engineers and physicists, there's definite potential for confusing Tau with Time, so that's something that needs to be considered.
~ CT
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