Tau day, celebrated on June 28th, is almost upon us again. Last year I had great fun making a video about tau and appeared in national newspapers and on radio and TV. Though I had helped kick off a story that went viral igniting millions of pixels across the globe, even I felt that it received more coverage than it merited. Don’t get me wrong, it was great fun. Anyone who watched my video could tell from the sound effects, the newspaper headline about Pi is 5.14 and the code hidden in the digits of pi that for me this was not obsessional rage coming out but was instead a reasonably light-hearted look at an irrational bit of maths. Unfortunately, I received a lot of flak and a fair amount of abuse such as being called “peace of sh*t”[sic], “burro” (it’s a Portuguese insult, shame on you BBC Brasil!) and even, rather strangely, bald-headed. (You can hear the inside story in a Math/Maths Podcast.) However, it is not insults that cause me to pass on two rounds of pie this year. Insults are not a problem, I’m a grown up and know that sticking my head above the parapet will give at least someone the opportunity to take a shot. Instead I have two main reasons. 1. The issue is controversial and although controversy and debate are vital for any subject it should be about the significant issues. Tau is important but not major league important. I don’t want disagreements between mathematicians to obscure our central message that maths is vital to society (see here for example). One of our responsibilities is the health of our subject and a basic tenet, like a doctor’s, should be “Do no harm”. In this case I think...

I’m finished with the arguments between p and 2 pi. Henceforth, I shall follow 8 pi and be one of the octopi — the mathematicians of the sea! You can buy this T-shirt at SnorgTees along with many other great T-shirts with a science...

Tired of always getting in your maths formulae? Then try instead! One of the strangest mathematical stories I have come across is that “Pi is wrong”. If you want to know more then look at the following video that I have produced in time for Tau Day on June 28. You can find more at www.tauday.com or Bob Palais’...