Happy Tau Over Two Day (Pi Day)

Pie with pi_vs_tau (Photo – xkcd.com)

While eating a slice of pie on 3/14 at 9:26 am, remember that Pi comes up in mathematics and physics usually as 2 Pi — or as the mathematician Bob Palais called it in his article “Pi is Wrong” — the number Tau.

By Julius Su

There are 2 Pi radians in a circle. The Fourier transform formula, Gaussian distribution formula, and error function forumlas all start with factors of 2 Pi. Plack’s constant appears in Schrodinger’s equation as h over 2 Pi. Euler’s formula: wouldn’t it be simpler to just say that the exponential of 2 Pi I was one?

So put another slice of pie on your plate today, reflect on the ubiquity of 2 Pi, and mark your calendar for 6/28, when you will have the opportunity to celebrate Tau Day!

Julius Su is a Post-Doc chemistry candidate at California Institute of Technology. He received a PhD in chemistry from Caltech in 2007, and also have BS degrees in physics and biology from Caltech.