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Not fair (sub.wetshaving.social)
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[-] Mikrochip@feddit.org 39 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Gotta say, using 3 just feels like giving up due to laziness, even in 1200BC.

Also it's interesting how the Chinese entries basically stop between 1400 and 1949, whereas European names are far more present during this era. Some Japanese ones, too. I wonder how comprehensive this page is.

[-] Console_Modder@sh.itjust.works 37 points 2 days ago

Rounding pi to 3 is just the engineering way. It's close enough to get the job done and then I don't have to worry about decimal places. However, using pi=3 typically undershoots your calculations, so personally I like to use pi=4

[-] MisterFrog@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I finally found you, an engineer actually using π=3 (or 4 as you say), and not just people making fun of it.

I am also an engineer, but I'm going to wager much more recently graduated (worked 3.5 years).

Who hurt you?

Like, I get it, in a world before calculators, but there's a button on the calculator, in your spreadsheet, in whatever program that approximates pi to many, many, many digits.

Putting in a design/safety margins into pi seems like a strange choice.

Sincerely, an engineer looking for answers on this π=3 meme.

Even if it's back of the napkin first past approximation. You have a phone calculator. Please use it for our collective peace haha

(All jibes in jest, I'm genuinely curious)

[-] Console_Modder@sh.itjust.works 1 points 22 hours ago

Only 7 years of engineering experience and pretty much every time I have used pi, I have rounded it to 3 or 4. Now, the thing is, I am an electrical engineer that works in industrial automation. I never use pi at all

[-] MisterFrog@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago

Thanks for the response! Still, why would you do this, and not just use pi?

I'm not following what the purpose of rounding pi is

PI() is the function a spreadsheet, if that helps ;)

Please give me peace haha

[-] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 2 days ago

An error margin of less than 5% (even better, biased in a known direction) is more than good enough for plenty of use cases.

An error margin of more than 25% on the other hand, is seldom acceptable.

[-] i_am_hiding@aussie.zone 3 points 1 day ago

One is an error margin, the other a factor of safety!

[-] Console_Modder@sh.itjust.works 19 points 2 days ago

Nah, it's fine. Trust me I use pi=4 in every calculation I do that uses pi and I haven't ever run into any issues at all

(I'm not that type of engineer, I never do anything with pi)

[-] Zwiebel@feddit.org 7 points 2 days ago

It's called safety factor

[-] ccunning@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

Sometimes zero decimals is enough precision even in 2025…

…but also because of laziness…

this post was submitted on 19 May 2025
953 points (100.0% liked)

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