🚀 go-pugleaf

son3776@utdallas.edu writes:

> The fact that we can't measure it to total accuracy does not exclude it 
> from being a physical constant.
> 
> Elementary charge is a physical constant with a computational value of 
> 1.60e-19C and a *best* (1986) value of 1.60217738e-19C with an 
> uncertainty of .30 parts per million.  Even though we still haven't 
> measured this to an exact accuracy, we still consider it to be a physical 
> constant . . . so saying that we can't measure pi to a certain degree of 
> accuracy does not mean that pi is not a physical constant.

But the fact that we can talk about the "correct" value of pi (the one 
you get through several series) indicates that it is indeed a 
mathematical constant.  What's the _correct_ value of e (the quantum 
of electric charge)?  Of course, there isn't one, because it's a 
physical constant, which must be measured rather than calculated.


Erik Max Francis, &tSftDotIotE ...!uuwest!alcyone!max max@alcyone.darkside.com
San Jose, CA ... GIGO, Hg, Omega, Universe, Psi ... ICBM: 37 20 N 121 53 W  _
H.3`S,3,P,3$S,#$Q,C`Q,3,P,3$S,#$Q,3`Q,3,P,C$Q,#(Q.#`-"C`- ftmfbs kmmfa mc2 / \
Omnia quia sunt, lumina sunt.  ("All things that are, are lights.")   -><- \_/
"We all may have come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now."