Tau
Tau, denoted , is most commonly used as 2
(see Pi if you are part of the minority of the AoPS community which does not know what
is). For a convincing proof that
is a better circle constant than
, see The Tau Manifesto by Michael Hartl. This following section will summarize one main point of the Tau Manifesto.
Why
Is Better Than ![$\pi$](//latex.artofproblemsolving.com/f/2/c/f2ca003a7da0de4994b4733e203b74ff52d42553.png)
Have you ever been in geometry class and been asked to graph sine waves with their ridiculous extra factor of 2 in the x-axis? Have you ever thought radian angle measure was hopelessly tainted with the superfluous and yet unavoidable factor of 2 (There are 2 radians in a full revolution)?
resolves that. One
is one revolution. Simple as that. While you have to remember that
radians is NOT
of a revolution, but is equal to
of a revolution because of that idiosyncratic factor of 2,
radians is just
of a revolution. Likewise,
radians is just
of a revolution,
radians is just 9001 revolutions,
radians is just 123456789 revolutions, and
radians is
revolutions for any real
.
Other Uses of Tau
can have other meanings:
- Tau is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet.
- Tau is also an uncommon name for Phi.