7 ms·
Visualizing Pi (π)
- tfh 17y agoI don't know if this visualization is really useful for those who know that circumference = diameter * pi
- cracki 17y agothe visualization isn't meant for those who know that.
- zackattack 17y agoIt rolls so quickly, I would find it difficult for anyone who doesn't know this to grasp the fact. It took me a second, and I'm awesome at basic mathematics. BTW, diameter here = 1. Anyone else thought that π(n) was referring to a graph of the density of prime numbers? :P
- skolor 17y agoIt took me three watchings to figure out what they were trying to demonstrate. Between the colors (not to harp on the color blindness thing, but those color choices were dreadful) and the speed of the animation, its relatively difficult to even understand what is happening the first few times through.
- zeynel1 17y agoI agree. The version here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_talk:Pi-unrolled.gif http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_talk:Pi-unrolled.gif appears to move slower. I think it's better.
- nopassrecover 17y agoIf you didn't know that, HN probably isn't the right place to start learning it.
- allenbrunson 17y agofor me, the comment i'm replying to shows a red dot, just to the right of the up/down arrows. i've seen a couple of other comments with such a dot. anybody know what it means?
- superkarn 17y agopg's experiement http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=844979 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=844979
- chriskelley 17y agoIt means the comment has reached the "good" threshold and has 5+ upvotes. See: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=846123 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=846123
- pmichaud 17y agoI think the point is that even if you "know" that, you might not "get" it intuitively. This animation is supposed to help you "get" it, and even though it's a bit too fast, I think it does a great job.
- jonp 17y agoI wonder why they chose a wheel with seven spokes. I don't recall ever seeing one with an odd number.
- DougBTX 17y agohttp://images.google.com/images?q=seven%20spoke%20wheel&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi http://images.google.com/images?q=seven%20spoke%20wheel&...
- andreyf 17y agoWheels with an odd number have less variance in how much weight they can support along their edge. An even number of spokes makes a wheel with "weaker" points midway between the spokes, where the wheel won't hold as much weight.
- jonp 17y agoThanks. For some reason I was thinking of old-fashioned wooden wheels rather than modern car wheels. I guess someone figured out the physics at some point and there was no looking back.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- dmoney 17y agoPi = cheese wrapped in sausage.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]