EmbeddingGemma 2: an open, lightweight multimodal embedding model
deepmind.google·6d ago
AI Engineering
Hacker News·Aug 20·5 min read
Turns are Better than Radians
TL;DR
Replacing pi with tau in mathematical formulas simplifies calculations, but a more significant improvement is removing pi altogether in many cases. This shift can enhance code clarity and efficiency.
✦ Why It Matters
Start removing pi from your trigonometric calculations to simplify your code today.
Key Takeaways
- Replace radians with turns in your code for efficiency.
- Avoid unnecessary multiplications by eliminating pi and tau.
- Use existing libraries that support half-turns for immediate benefits.
- Simplify angle representation for common values to improve precision.
How It Works
By using turns, angles are represented in a range from 0 to 1, allowing for direct input into trigonometric functions without conversion. This eliminates the need for multiplying by pi or tau, which is often reversed in library implementations, thus streamlining calculations.