Pi's nemesis: Mathematics is better with tau

28 June 2011 by Jacob Aron Magazine issue 2794. New Scientist

Time to kill off pi (Image: Michael Hartl)

It's time to kill off pi, says physicist Michael Hartl, who believes that an alternative mathematical constant will do its job better What's wrong with pi? Of course, pi is not "wrong" in the sense of being incorrect, it's just a confusing and unnatural choice for the circle constant. Pi is the circumference of a circle divided by its diameter, and this definition leads to annoying factors of 2. Try explaining to a 12-year-old why the angle for an eighth of a pizza one slice is pi/4 instead of pi/8. So what should replace pi? In The Tau Manifesto, which I published last year, I suggest using the Greek letter tau which is equal to 2 pi, or 6.28318... instead. Tau is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its radius, and this number occurs with astonishing frequency throughout mathematics. If this idea is so fundamental, why haven't we made the change before? The paper that got the ball rolling on this, "Pi is Wrong!" by mathematician Robert Palais, traces the history of pi. It's only in the last 300 years that this convention was adopted, and I think it's just a mistake. It's one of those times in history when we chose the wrong convention. And you are here to correct that mistake? Yes. The aim of The Tau Manifesto was first and foremost to be fun, but it's true that I would like pi to be replaced by something more sensible. Have you had much success?

It's definitely getting some traction among geeks. Eventually I think there is going to be a groundswell of support for it. You are up against a formidable enemy, because pi is a popular constant... It is: there are books written about it, and people care enough to memorise tens of thousands of its digits. Google even changed its logo to honour pi on 14 March 2010 - Pi Day. Doesn't using tau ruin equations like the formula for circular area and Euler's identity? Quite the opposite. As I show in The Tau Manifesto, using tau reveals underlying mathematical relationships that are obscured by using pi. In particular, the famous formula for circular area is the manifesto's coup de grce. Could tau exist alongside pi? Yes. There is no need to rewrite the textbooks. Has anyone successfully changed notation like this in the past? In physics, there is an important quantity known as Planck's constant, h. As quantum mechanics developed, it became clear that h-bar was more important, which is equal to h/2 pi - that's the factor of 2 that pops up everywhere! h-bar is now the standard notation, though both are used. People celebrate pi by eating pies on Pi Day. How can people celebrate tau? I'm planning a Tau Day party for 28 June, and if you think that the circular baked goods on Pi Day are tasty, just wait Tau Day has twice as much pie!
Profile

Michael Hartl has a PhD in physics from the California Institute of Technology, and is the author of the web development book Ruby on Rails Tutorial. Having memorised 50 digits of pi, he is now memorising 52 digits of tau

From issue 2794 of New Scientist magazine, page 23.