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Author Topic: Pi Day!  (Read 1876 times)

Offline Bobbert

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Pi Day!
« on: March 14, 2013, 10:48:02 PM »
+1
Happy 3.14! (Though my calc teacher thinks its the worst excuse for a holiday since Father's day was invented by florists)

inb4 pi vs. tau flamewar.

EDIT: Wow, should have read trumpet blast first :P oh well.
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ANB is good. Change my mind.

Offline Master KChief

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Re: Pi Day!
« Reply #1 on: March 14, 2013, 11:07:34 PM »
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I took work off today. I love pie.
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"If it weren't for people with bad decision making skills, I'd have to get a real job." - Reynad

Rawrlolsauce!

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Re: Pi Day!
« Reply #2 on: March 14, 2013, 11:17:55 PM »
+1
As I told Westy, I think pi/4 should be a constant more than Tau.


1/(1+x) = 1 - x + x2 - x3....
Let x = y^2
1/(1+y2) = 1 - y2 + y4 - y6....
Integrate from 0 to z
Arctan(z) = z - z3/3 + z5/5 - z7/7....
Evaluate at 1...
pi/4 = 1 - 1/3 + 1/5 - 1/7....

It's just so beautiful and *feels* more fundamental than pi or tau. I know that there are other series that converge on pi, but this feels the best.

It is also the ratio between the area of a circle and square such that the diameter is the same as the length. You could just say the ratio is 4 to pi, but then it's not a unit square.


On a side note, I'm starting to like math way too much. I need to stop doing it. I once woke up my roommate at 2AM because I realized the area bound under the function cosh(x) was equal to the arc length of cosh(x) and I've probably spent over 20 hours playing Taxman in the last week.
« Last Edit: March 14, 2013, 11:31:19 PM by Rawrlolsauce! »
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Warrior_Monk

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Re: Pi Day!
« Reply #3 on: March 14, 2013, 11:59:24 PM »
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But that constant is so much less seen throughout the universe. 2π is seen everywhere and is very natural.
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Offline Professoralstad

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Re: Pi Day!
« Reply #4 on: March 15, 2013, 12:03:13 AM »
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If you want to cure yourself of liking math too much, you should take differential geometry...that's where my zeal for math turned into apathy which became hatred. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy a good fractal discovery or calculus-related item in the news now and again, but I am a shell of my former math-loving self. Unless of course you take it from a professor who can speak clearly and can provide evidence that he knows what he is talking about (I'm sure my professor DID know what he was talking about, but that's probably part of the reason he couldn't communicate with mere mortals of the undergraduate math program).

And please don't ask me what differential geometry is about. If you do, I'll probably just give you my book and ask if you can take the time to learn it well enough to explain it to me.
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Rawrlolsauce!

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Re: Pi Day!
« Reply #5 on: March 15, 2013, 12:09:30 AM »
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I know math gets radically different in analysis in stuff, but I dunno. I'm going to go for at least a math minor if I can (which is likely, because I took 2 years of PSEO, so I have all my lib eds done.)

My professor totally knows what he can talk about, and says it clearly (with a terrific southern accent), but it's rarely related to whatever we're discussing. One day he went on about how, back in his day, they'd use properties of logarithms and a book of logarithms in land surveying because calculators hadn't been invented yet. I was like "Cool, Professor Miracle, but what does that have to do with differential equations?"
« Last Edit: March 15, 2013, 12:11:36 AM by Rawrlolsauce! »
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Offline Professoralstad

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Re: Pi Day!
« Reply #6 on: March 15, 2013, 12:20:48 AM »
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Quote from: Rawrlolsauce! on March 15, 2013, 12:09:30 AM
I know math gets radically different in analysis in stuff, but I dunno. I'm going to go for at least a math minor if I can (which is likely, because I took 2 years of PSEO, so I have all my lib eds done.)

My professor totally knows what he can talk about, and says it clearly (with a terrific southern accent), but it's rarely related to whatever we're discussing. One day he went on about how, back in his day, they'd use properties of logarithms and a book of logarithms in land surveying because calculators hadn't been invented yet. I was like "Cool, Professor Miracle, but what does that have to do with differential equations?"

If you're in CSE, a math minor is (or was, at least, a few years ago) just 2 classes past Calc 4. If you're really intrigued, you can get a BS in math for 8 classes past calc 4 (and at least three of those will count for non-major credits in whatever major you have). I don't know if it had any direct impact on my hiring, but when I interviewed for my job, the interviewer was rather impressed that I had both EE and math degrees.

Regardless of what the subject matter is precisely, don't take for granted math professors that you can understand. They are a lot rarer than you think. However, I did decide that if the Ph.D student who taught me Calc 3 and 4 in discussions while my professor blathered on incoherently during lectures ended up as a professor somewhere, I would try to send my child to that institution.
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Rawrlolsauce!

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Re: Pi Day!
« Reply #7 on: March 15, 2013, 12:33:10 AM »
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I can't see myself double majoring. Partially because I'm Chemical Engineering which is one of the more busy majors, and partially because that'd force me to take physics 3 (Physics 1 was okay, physics 2 is stupid and boring but doable - even though I have Marshak, who is supposed to be the interesting guy, and I've been told physics 3 is the hard one.)

I'm not worried about Calc 3/4, because my current professor teaches them and he's awesome. As long as he doesn't die within the next year. He also wrote the books and those are probably the best textbooks I've ever read.

Maybe it's because I'm still a Freshman, but I've been really impressed with the quality of teaching - by both TAs and professors. The only really "bad" professor I've had is my physics one last semester, and the only "bad" TA I've had is my current math TA. Unless you consider my physics ta last semester "bad" for swearing at us in Farsi and encouraging half the class to commit suicide. He was fun..
« Last Edit: March 15, 2013, 12:38:44 AM by Rawrlolsauce! »
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