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?
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2$\begingroup$ 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. $\endgroup$– Milo BrandtDec 10, 2015 at 5:31
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16$\begingroup$ Don't take this personally. I simply downvote all posts that try to keep this silly tau idea on the agenda. $\endgroup$– Jyrki LahtonenDec 10, 2015 at 6:57
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$\begingroup$ I don't get what $\tau$ has to do here... Is it a well known number? or is it just a random greek letter? $\endgroup$– SurbDec 10, 2015 at 11:31
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4$\begingroup$ @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... $\endgroup$– rschwiebDec 10, 2015 at 11:57
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$\begingroup$ @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 $2\pi$ $\endgroup$– SurbDec 10, 2015 at 12:14
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9$\begingroup$ 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 $\endgroup$– Daniel RDec 10, 2015 at 12:27
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9$\begingroup$ 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. $\endgroup$– Daniel RDec 10, 2015 at 12:28
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3$\begingroup$ 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. $\endgroup$– rschwiebDec 11, 2015 at 4:40
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$\begingroup$ @JyrkiLahtonen tau is obviously more pedagogically usefully for teaching the unit circle to precalc students and gets people interested in math, so I feel like it's had a positive impact on the math community. Not that I believe Tau will somehow fix math, but I do think there's a better case that we should've adopted it historically speaking, even if it is minor and fussing about it now is just making a mountain out of a molehill. $\endgroup$– Pineapple FishMay 17, 2022 at 18:52
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Don't tag things $\tau$. Tag them $\pi$ instead.
