Tau Day A Good Idea, Just Avoid the Pluto Tactics

Math(s) fans and Google Doodle groupies are likely familiar with one of the designations of March 14 (3/14) – Pi Day.  The day managed to get recognition from the U.S. Congress in 2009.  It’s an excellent excuse for math(s) to get a little publicity, aside from whenever students are working on their circle-related formulas.

However, there are others who are arguing that Pi is the wrong number to be using for all those pesky calculations.  They advocate for using Tau, which is twice the value of Pi, in these formulas.  And today, June 28, is Tau Day.  The advantages of using 6.28 rather than 3.14 (taking these numbers as far out as you like) become clearer when working with higher level mathematics, primarily polar coordinates (very useful for trigonometry) and many different integrations.  But using Tau for the more fundamental calculations really doesn’t affect much.  The only place where things get hairier with Tau is using it for the area of a circle, as you introduce a fraction where there wasn’t one before.  In other words, if you do heavy lifting with your math, you’ll probably like Tau.  If you don’t do such heavy lifting, I don’t think you’ll mind (or notice).  Tweak the formulas a bit, and there you go. Or, as math author Danica McKellar noted,

http://twitter.com/#!/danicamckellar/status/85863388885946369

What’s struck me as odd is this faux-confrontational arguments and efforts to make the switch.  And that’s where I think there are similarities with the hullabaloo over reclassifying Pluto as a minor planet back in 2006.  While I don’t see a math book coming out trying to argue for Pi to keep the public engaged (like some folks tried and failed with Pluto), this notion of opposing camps strikes me as counterproductive.  And absent the presence of a math(s) standards body to dictate terms, I see no good reason why Tau supporters don’t just start using it.  The implementation challenge will be with education, and that’s more in terms of doing it all at once rather than piecemeal.

So come on, why not make it Tau Day every day?