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Strilanc comments on Stupid Questions February 2015 - Less Wrong
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Comments (198)
That one you found out already, it would make it much more consistent with how similar constants are used.
Not sure what you mean. Do you mean when comparing the equation for gravitational force to the electric force? Or do you mean when looking at the 'intuitive' way of writing the differential equation
In either case it seems that the choice of 4π is arbitrary on one equation or the other. For example choosing Gaussian units introduces a 4π in the electrical equation and makes it look more like the gravitational equation.
They seem equally primitive by
and
It doesn't according to Wikipedia
I haven't read up on that so I don't really know. Seems arbitrary to me too.
I would say
cosis simpler thansinbecause its Taylor series has a factor of x knocked off.In practice they tend to show up together, though. Often you can replace the pair with something like
e^(i x), so maybe that should be considered the simplest.