This linked to the webpage of a physicist, Michael Hartl, who lives right here in California. (Of course, since τ = 6.28 …, June 28, or 6/28, is Tau Day itself.) Although it is of great historical importance, the mathematical significance of π is simply that it is one-half τ. This number, called τ (tau), is equal to 2 π, so π is 1 2 τ -and March 14 is thus Half Tau Day. "The true circle constant is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its radius, not to its diameter. But one of the search results was strange - this webpage referred to a "half tau day": Now about five years ago - on another Pi Day, March 14th - I decided to search Google for some Pi Day webpages. But this page did not suggest giving the number 2pi the name tau or any another special name.
One day that this page mentioned was Two Pi Day, or June 28th. It was about ten or fifteen years ago when I first read about Pi Day, and one old site (which I believe no longer exists) suggested a few alternate Pi Days, including Pi Approximation Day, July 22nd. Thus the day 6/28, or June 28th, is Tau Day. The decimal value of this constant is approximately 6.283185307., or 6.28 to two decimal places.
Now the text tells us that C = 2pi * r, so that C / r = 2pi. Tau = C / r, where C is the circumference and r the radius of a circle. This is what I wrote last year on Tau Day:īut what exactly is this constant "tau," anyway? It is not defined in the U of Chicago text - if it were, it would have appeared in Section 8-8, as follows: But don't expect me to make my 600th post next Tau Day - this year my plan is to post three times a week during the school year rather than every single day of the school year. After all, I posted on each of the 180 days of the school year plus a few extra posts during vacation periods, so it's not surprising for me to make my 400th post exactly one year after my 200th post. Today is Tau Day, the day that we celebrate one of the most important mathematical constants, the number tau.īy the way, last year I made my 200th post on Tau Day.
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