# Should Tau be an alias or a separate tag?

I'm asking for my own education, since I don't understand the inherent benefits of Tau.

Is there a legitimate need to tag questions "tau" or is "pi" sufficient?

Should TAU be an alias to Pi? ... or a separate Tag?

• I don't think there are any questions tagged "tau", so I'm not sure what you mean. Certainly, don't tag questions with "tau" to mean $2\pi$ because "pi" is the established tag. Dec 10 '15 at 5:31
• Don't take this personally. I simply downvote all posts that try to keep this silly tau idea on the agenda. Dec 10 '15 at 6:57
• I don't get what $\tau$ has to do here... Is it a well known number? or is it just a random greek letter?
– Surb
Dec 10 '15 at 11:31
• @surb $\tau=2\pi$ is the fixation of a certain body of enthusiasts. They would have you believe that $2\pi$ is very important, sometimes more important than $\pi$, and therefore deserves a dedicated symbol, Wikipedia page, tags, holiday, press coverage, songs, poems, books, etc ad infinitum... Dec 10 '15 at 11:57
• @rschwieb :D ok, good to know... well why not ?¿... I mean we decided to use a different symbol for $1$ and $2$ so why not for other numbers? BTW, I could not find anything related to $\pi$ in the wikipedia page about $\tau$ though. And I'll probably continue to use $2\pi$
– Surb
Dec 10 '15 at 12:14
• Thomas Andrews put it very elegantly here: Using $\tau$ without explanation is what I'd call being smug and unhelpful. I understand the arguments for using $\tau$, but if a (non-scientist) American asks the outdoor temperature, and give him a Celsius answer without at least saying Celsius, you are not being helpful, you are being smug Dec 10 '15 at 12:27
• cont'd: When Jan 1, 2000 was coming around, i joked that the people who insisted on telling you that 2001 was the "real millennium" were "Smart enough to know, dumb enough to care." There is a certain kind of obsession with detail that seems designed to assert superiority, not to actually be useful. Some grammar police are like this, as well. Dec 10 '15 at 12:28
• Tau enthusiasts are being a little hipster with their antics, but the crime that is usually occurring is that they waste everyone's time by making a huge hoopla out of something completely trivial. Dec 11 '15 at 4:40

Don't tag things $\tau$. Tag them $\pi$ instead.