2011-03-14

ironymaiden: (hate-lust)
2011-03-14 01:05 pm

i like key lime, myself

youtube vid (pleasant, includes fruit pie): why pi is (mostly) wrong (or alternately, a text reference)

tl;dr is that we might have an easier time teaching this stuff if we based circle math on radius instead of diameter.

which led to a conversation at lunch about when humans codified pi (pretty damn early) and why diameter? i posited that using diameter comes from the ease of drawing/visualizing it freehand, a radius wants a compass.

but this tau discussion reminds me of something that i had a hard time swallowing as a kid studying math: "wait, this is all arbitrary?"