[Aardwolf]

Those perfect radians use 2*pi, aka tau, though, a different math notation issue, where mathematicians have chosen the wrong option (imho) and a case for disrupting that part of math notation, to make radians easier to teach: 1/4th of a circle could be tau/4 radians, 1/8th could be tau/8, etc..., instead of confusing halved factors with radians expressed as amount of pi.

Regarding long variable names: I'd rather have long variable names, than a mathematician using some greek symbol in formulas without telling what the meaning of it is (and it could be different depending on their background). But I have no issues with the single letter variables if they're specified properly.

[doliveira]

As far as I know, the whole tau disruption wasn't proposed by programmers, so I think we're safe on that.

And proposing to write equations in books and articles with long variable names... Well, Algebra was invented for a reason.

[throwaway9870]

Just out of curiosity, where did tau come from? I never heard of it used for 2pi, and frankly, it seems like a poor choice because in engineering it is one of the most common symbols used (time constant tau).

[nkurz]

It apparently was chosen because it's the starting sound of "turn": Hartl chose tau to represent 2pi because it nicely ties in with the Greek word “tornos,” meaning “turn,” and “looks like a pi with one leg instead of two.”

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/the-tao-of...

There was an earlier effort that used a new "two pi" symbol consisting of a "π" with an extra leg in the middle: https://www.math.utah.edu/~palais/pi.pdf.

[krastanov]

Funny coincidence: π with an extra leg is the Cyrillic cursive letter for the sound t.

[grey_earthling]

https://tauday.com/ is a good entrance to this particular rabbit-hole.

[thih9]

Doesn’t Tau (the letter) look like half of Pi? Isn’t this a lost cause already?

[bmacho]

I think it's a won cause already.

[airblade]

Look up the Tau Manifesto: it’s all explained there.

[tsimionescu]

That is a completely different matter. The definition of sin/cos in radians doesn't change if you prefer to use 2 * pi or tau - it's still x - x^3/3! + [...]. sin(pi/2) = sin (tau/4) = 1.