Meme of two women fighting while a man smokes from a pipe in the background.
The women fighting are labeled “mathematicians defining pi” and “engineers just using 3 because it’s within tolerance”
The man smoking is labeled “astrophysicists” and the pipe is labeled “pi = 1”
38 digits of pie gives youv an error of less then a hydrogen atom in the circumference of the known universe.
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/news/how-many-decimals-of-pi-do-we-really-need/
From the article for anyone who cares, NASA uses 15 digits (
3.141592653589793) because at Voyagers current distance from earth (~48 billion kilometers) that would give you an accuracy of less than half an inch.
38 digits of pi can get the circumference of the visible universe to within a single hydrogen atom.
10 digits gets the diameter of the earth to within an inch.
Thank you for subscribing to Daily Spacey Math Facts
Thank you O’Brian!
I hope you have finally done the DTR with Bashir…10 digits gets the diameter of the earth to within an inch.
Put another way, 10 digits means that your error will be caused by your imprecise model of the Earth’s shape, rather than imprecision in the value of pi.
The real comment mvp. You deserve every positive vote my post got
And just two digits introduces less error than your average terrible model
Wow, what do you have against models? I mean, I know that the trope is that they aren’t very smart, but the same trope applies to firemen, so why pick on models?
old man voice this must be that ragebait thing the youngsters are always talking about
Firemen are way hotter
Well, when they’re burning…
out of curiosity… does that first fact account for the continued expansion of the universe?
It works at the current 93 billion light years of observable universe (46ish in every direction)
As a retired mechanical engineer, the joke is that we don’t really remember the value of Pi, but we think it’s somewhere around 3. But maybe we should use 4 just to be safe.
In any case, I have to remember 3.14 because one of my Daughters was born on Pi Day. Which, according her, is the second most important day of the year, just right behind Christmas Day, when she was growing up. So when she got into high school that meant that we had to bring enough pie to be served in each of her math classes on that day. (Oddly enough she prefers cheese cake over pie on her Birthday).
Now I’m not saying being born on Pi Day influenced her life any, but she has a PhD in Mech Engineering.
Good news for her. Cheese cake is a pie not a cake.
It’s called “cheese cake” not “cheese pie” so I don’t think so
Pie is a set filling in a crust. Cake is a sponge with optional glaze or frosting.
Twas a joke
Not according to her. And I ain’t about to argue the point with her…
This made my day.
Solidifies my preference for pie over cake
You sound like an involved and caring father. Rock on, dude
Using 1 is fun. That means the circumference of a circle is equal to its diameter.
Isn’t this functionally true for objects on the infinite focal plane? I.e. a star? Betelgeuse might actually be huge in absolute terms, but from earth, and even in a large telescope, it’s still a pinpoint whose circumference is not meaningfully distinct from its diameter.
Euclidean geometry enjoyers in shambles
as an engineer, a lot of languages (even proprietary ones) have a built-in constant pi variable because it is so ubiquitous - its easier and more readable to use pi than 3…
I’ve also never seen a fellow engineer simplify pi to just 3, although I have seen a rise of memes from people who think they do.
I would slap someone if I saw them try that, it’s unnecessarily sloppy. 3.14 is the default, and trivial to work with if you’re using a calculator (I would also slap someone if I saw them not using a calculator). Unless you just LIKE having all your calculations be off by almost 5%. Then you’ll come back wondering why so many of your parts are out of tolerance.
As an Astrophysicist, I have never seen anybody use pi=1, you just leave the character, it’s anyway better to read, is not like you do any calculations by hand anyway. More common is c=hbar=kB=1, but that is not an approximate, is a gauge in another unit system. Also… Astronomy is not astrophysics…
As an astrophysicist, can you read me my horoscope? I’m a scorpion
Sure, give it to me, I can read it for you.
“is not like you do calculations by hand anyway”
… get off my lawn, whippersnapper.
Pi = 355/113
Electrical engineer. Never used 3. Always 3.14. don’t really get the joke.
Electrician over here is killing the buzz
Electrical engineer. I’m nowhere near as useful as an electrician.
I’ve seen some blueprints who use 3.5. I guess it’s close enough but definitely not too small
Strange. If you’re going to use a decimal point, why not the right one?
You are correct, I used the wrong one for my region but according to Swedish Wikipedia (bad source) the US and UK uses a . If that is incorrect I’m happy to be corrected!
LOL. That’s not what I meant. Unfortunately it is what I said.
What I should have said is, if you are going to use a number after a decimal point (or comma in Europe) then why not use the right number. My bad.
A very good question, I think it was in an old DIY wood crafts book for older kids. I’m gonna dig through my book boxes to see if I find it :) Any excuse to go through them!
Edit: I’m autistic so it’s not uncommon to read stuff to literally, so don’t worry
I use 3 16/113
You’re a monster. I love it
Only basic math. You can convert Pi even more precise, but I think to 6 decimals is enough.
I heard once π²=10 is fairly accurate approx and thus g=π²=10 in astrophysics where people thinks in order of magnitude, not value.
But my engineering ass is telling assumptions with larger than 50% difference from actual value may cause issues on order of magnitude if the value is used multiple times and isnt it better be like 5=1/2×10?
That’s because your engineering ass needs things to be physical and sane. Physics is a field for the mentally unwell to sink further into insanity while incoherently scribbling greek letters on every available flat surface.
On a more serious note, yeah you absolutely have to be careful about where you apply really ambitious simplifications like that. There are plenty of mathematical regimes where you can use natural units (this is the term to look up if your interest extends further) and simplify your reference frame by a hell of a lot though. Setting the speed of light to 1 is also a hell of a drug, and brother I’ve got an addiction
So this is just an Ai produced meme?
“Everything I don’t like is ai”
Grow up. The imgflip watermark is clearly visible in the meme, and it’s an ancient meme format.
This image is a two-panel meme utilizing a blurry, chaotic photo of individuals seemingly engaged in a mock fight and a separate photo of a person appearing to conduct a science experiment with a small flame, possibly under the influence of poor judgment.
In the left panel, the text “MATHEMATICIANS DEFINING PI” is superimposed over two individuals engaged in a dramatic physical altercation, one holding the other back. A third person, who is uninvolved but present, is labeled “ENGINEERS JUST USING 3 BECAUSE IT’S WITHIN TOLERANCE.” This suggests a hierarchy of concern regarding the numerical precision of π (pi), with mathematicians caring deeply, engineers demonstrating relaxed standards, and general chaos ensuing.
In the right panel, a shirtless person crouches and conducts a questionable experiment involving a lighter and a small pipe. The caption “ASTROPHYSICISTS” is positioned above their head, and below is the phrase “PI = 1.” This implies a level of approximation so extreme it borders on parody, indicating astrophysicists allegedly use such simplifications in the name of cosmic-scale practicality.
The overall composition is an exaggerated commentary on varying standards of numerical precision in different disciplines, presented through low-resolution imagery and humorous juxtaposition.
