Happy Tau Day!

Happy $\tau$ day! $\tau \approx 6.2831853...$, of course, is the fundamental circle constant which represents the ratio of any circle’s circumference to its radius. (In the past people have also used the symbol “$\pi$” to represent half of $\tau$; perhaps you’ve heard of it.)

The inimitable Vi Hart has made a video about $\tau$:

And here’s what $\tau$ sounds like:

For more $\tau$ link goodness, check out Denise’s post.

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3 Responses to Happy Tau Day!

1. Antonio Cangiano has also written a blog post on this subject, entitled “Forget Pi, here comes Tau” (see http://math-blog.com/2010/06/28/forget-pi-here-comes-tau/).

2. For comparison, here is what π sounds like:

YouTube – ‪What pi sounds like‬‏

(The π video bears a close resemblance to, and probably inspired, the described τ video.)

• Brent says:

Yes, the two videos are by the same musician. Someone sued him for copyright infringement over the “What pi sounds like” video, claiming a copyright on the melody made from the digits of pi (they wrote a symphony based on this melody in 1992). So the video was taken down, although it looks like New Scientist has put it back up in defiance of the copyright suit.