EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Electronics => Beginners => Topic started by: dsharp02 on March 15, 2016, 03:58:14 pm
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Was reading this: http://tauday.com/ (http://tauday.com/)
and it got me thinking about RC time constants and how tau is used as a shorthand.
If the Tau-ists had their way calculating cutoff frequencies for RC filters could get really confusing.
Fc = 1 / (2 * pi * R * C)
(substituting tau, the RC time constant) => Fc = 1 / (2 * pi * tau)
(substituting tau, the mathematical constant) => Fc = 1 / ( _tau_ * tau)
So I guess the question is tau? or pi?
:popcorn:
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Silly answer:
Pau = 1.5 * pi is the way to go. It'll please nobody, so nobody will feel left out.
Proper answer:
Notice how next to nothing is abbreviated with the letter pi. Since pi has been the traditional constant used, everything else more or less decided not to use the letter pi. Had tau been the "one true constant", I'd expect the opposite to happen - the letter tau practically reserved for 2pi and the letter pi more or less free to use in most contexts.
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I like "pi" because of the Euler equation: [ e ^ (i pi) ] + 1 = 0.
This simple equation contains e, i, pi, 1, and 0 -- truly fundamental constants.
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It only needs one sign change: \$e^{i\tau} - 1 = 0\$
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Congratulations. You just proved that "pi vs tau" is an equivalent(ly silly) discussion to "plus vs minus".
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I like "pi" because of the Euler equation: [ e ^ (i pi) ] + 1 = 0.
This simple equation contains e, i, pi, 1, and 0 -- truly fundamental constants.
So, we have pi day. Why not "e day" and "i day"? The latter I propose belongs on the 29th of February.
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I like "pi" because of the Euler equation: [ e ^ (i pi) ] + 1 = 0.
This simple equation contains e, i, pi, 1, and 0 -- truly fundamental constants.
So, we have pi day. Why not "e day" and "i day"? The latter I propose belongs on the 29th of February.
Because it only happens once every four pi/2?