alt Hacker NewsDo you mean the advantage of writing pi*d for the circumference instead of tau*r or tau*d/2? I wouldn't keep pi around just for this...
Do you mean the advantage of writing pi*d for the circumference instead of tau*r or tau*d/2? I wouldn't keep pi around just for this...
Yes, though more broadly my point was that the radius is the natural measurement of the circle for most things since most things are center-based. But for some physical measurements, mostly based around pipes, "what is the width of this pipe" is the question you need answering, and that is diameter-based. And pi is circumference/diameter, while tau is circumference/radius.
But yes, if the world switched to tau then you wouldn't need pi anymore, you'd just write tau/2 in the rare cases where having the circumference/diameter ratio handy is useful.