Talk:2748: Radians Are Cursed

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Revision as of 21:17, 10 March 2023 by Barmar (talk | contribs)
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how do transcript 172.70.127.37 19:23, 10 March 2023 (UTC)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_degree may be of some help with this one. 162.158.166.124 19:44, 10 March 2023 (UTC)

The comic isn't actually correct. A radian is not equal to the length of a circle's radius; it is equal to the length of the radius, multiplied by 2π, divided by the perimeter, which is why it has no units, while the length does. In other words, radian/2pi=length of radius/length of perimeter. 172.70.46.84 19:51, 10 March 2023 (UTC)

As suggested by the above Wikipedia link, square degrees are in fact often used in astronomical contexts. Also, it's quite standard to say that radian=1; see for example SI derived unit. An angle is the ratio between the arc length and the radius, and we just optionally append "radian" for clarity. So 1 = 57.3 degrees is correct; Randall simply used the wrong argument to obtain it. Aseyhe (talk) 20:57, 10 March 2023 (UTC)

I always understood radian to be the name of the unit, so by definition 1 radian=1. Barmar (talk) 21:17, 10 March 2023 (UTC)