Multiples of Pi
From: | John Vertical <johnvertical@...> |
Date: | Tuesday, January 3, 2006, 21:20 |
Mark J. Reed wrote:
>
> > Myself, I'm actually lexicalizing 2pi instead (which, from a
> > mathematical viewpoint, is more logical.)
>
>Debatable. You could make a case for π/2 as well, since after all a
>circle is completely symmetric and you can start with a right angle
>quadrant and replicate it three more times to get one. But π by
>itself is the most directly measurable value, as the ratio of a
>circle's circumference to its diameter. Radii are, in general,
>tricker to measure on physical circles due to the necessity of
>identifying the precise center; it's easier to measure the diameter -
>a chord is the diameter when its length hits a maximum - and then
>halve that value to get the radius.
*Mathematical* viewpoint. It is essentially impossible to measure pi by more
than about 10 decimals; but in whatever mathematical context the number
comes up, more often that not it'll be preceded by a multiplier of 2. You
can read more here:
http://www.math.utah.edu/~palais/pi.html
I already have a name for it - I'm calling it "py" (or maybe "pu" would be
better English, since I'm working by analogy from mu & nu.)
John Vertical
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