i like key lime, myself
Mar. 14th, 2011 01:05 pmyoutube 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?"
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?"
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Date: 2011-03-14 09:41 pm (UTC)some of it is, some of it isn't. that's the point i make when i'm first introducing radians to the students.
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Date: 2011-03-14 09:41 pm (UTC)FTFY
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Date: 2011-03-14 09:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-14 09:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-14 09:56 pm (UTC)* sort of. in a sense, radians are ratios. but if i tell my students that, their heads asplode.
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Date: 2011-03-14 09:57 pm (UTC)[memo to self: refrain from explaining ZFC and gödel's theorem to the [Bad username or site: ironymaiden title= @ livejournal.com]]
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Date: 2011-03-14 09:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-15 04:34 am (UTC)