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Typing Pi on a Computer Keyboard

Started by SGOS, September 30, 2018, 11:10:16 AM

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PopeyesPappy

Save a life. Adopt a Greyhound.

Gawdzilla Sama

We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

Blackleaf

Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on September 30, 2018, 11:20:27 AM
♫ Alt-14



I have to wonder why they bothered making this feature. What are we supposed to do? Memorize these random combinations of numbers? It'd be easier to Google it, then copy/paste.
"Oh, wearisome condition of humanity,
Born under one law, to another bound;
Vainly begot, and yet forbidden vanity,
Created sick, commanded to be sound."
--Fulke Greville--

Baruch

Back in the day, a man's penis size was measured by how many Megabytes his PC hard drive had, and how many function key combos he could master.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Gawdzilla Sama

I remember the ones I use routinely. Just another code. ♫
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

Cavebear

Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on October 04, 2018, 12:36:36 AM
I remember the ones I use routinely. Just another code. ♫

If I used any routinely, I would remember them too. 
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

SGOS

Quote from: PopeyesPappy on October 03, 2018, 01:36:29 PM
Ï€

Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on October 03, 2018, 06:54:41 PM
Dot matrix printer friendly.
This has troubled me throughout the thread.  I see some people that can print out the one that looks like a Chinese character, but all I get is something that looks like and "n".  In grade school we were taught to draw three lines that looked kind of like a table.  But math books and all printed articles use the classic Chinese like character.  One of things about computers is that they create text that approaches the printed page quality in a book, but without all the erasure marks and extra scribbling, so I expect to make a real pie sign with my computer, not just some make do dingus that looks like some top IBM executive said, "Hey!  We forgot to make the character for pi, so me and the boys decided we are going to just use "n" and tell everyone it's pi."

Pi, my ass!

Baruch

#37
If you knew Greek, and a better font, this wouldn't be an issue ;-)

Μῆνιν á¼,,ειδε, θεά, Πηληιάδεω ἈχιλλῆοÏ, ... not a good "pi"

Μῆνιν á¼,,ειδε, θεά, Πηληιάδεω ἈχιλλῆοÏ, ... a better "pi"
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Cavebear

Quote from: SGOS on October 04, 2018, 06:31:55 AM
This has troubled me throughout the thread.  I see some people that can print out the one that looks like a Chinese character, but all I get is something that looks like and "n".  In grade school we were taught to draw three lines that looked kind of like a table.  But math books and all printed articles use the classic Chinese like character.  One of things about computers is that they create text that approaches the printed page quality in a book, but without all the erasure marks and extra scribbling, so I expect to make a real pie sign with my computer, not just some make do dingus that looks like some top IBM executive said, "Hey!  We forgot to make the character for pi, so me and the boys decided we are going to just use "n" and tell everyone it's pi."

Pi, my ass!

I didn't understand your point about "n" before.  Sorry.  But that's why I just type "Pi".
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Baruch

Quote from: Cavebear on October 04, 2018, 07:19:25 AM
I didn't understand your point about "n" before.  Sorry.  But that's why I just type "Pi".

And even more practical solution ;-)
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Cavebear

Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

trdsf

Quote from: SGOS on October 04, 2018, 06:31:55 AM
This has troubled me throughout the thread.  I see some people that can print out the one that looks like a Chinese character, but all I get is something that looks like and "n".  In grade school we were taught to draw three lines that looked kind of like a table.  But math books and all printed articles use the classic Chinese like character.  One of things about computers is that they create text that approaches the printed page quality in a book, but without all the erasure marks and extra scribbling, so I expect to make a real pie sign with my computer, not just some make do dingus that looks like some top IBM executive said, "Hey!  We forgot to make the character for pi, so me and the boys decided we are going to just use "n" and tell everyone it's pi."

Pi, my ass!
Yeah, the sans serif pi just looks like an angular lower case 'n': πnπnπnπn

That's why I try to remember to also make it a serifed font like Times when I need to use it, for improved clarity: π
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

SGOS

Quote from: Cavebear on October 04, 2018, 07:19:25 AM
I didn't understand your point about "n" before.  Sorry.  But that's why I just type "Pi".
They have two symbols available for pi.  They aren't "n", but they look like variations of a lower case "n".  I don't see why they don't use the universal symbol.  If they can make an ace of spades [â™ ], they should be able to make a regular pi symbol.

SGOS

Quote from: trdsf on October 04, 2018, 08:58:07 AM
Yeah, the sans serif pi just looks like an angular lower case 'n': πnπnπnπn

That's why I try to remember to also make it a serifed font like Times when I need to use it, for improved clarity: π
I'm still not getting it.

Oh wait:

Ï€

There!  I typed Ï€ using [Num Lock-alternate- 227] and then enclosed it in Times New Roman:  Ï€  It doesn't show up as the regular pi symbol in the text editor, but it shows up in the "preview mode".

How did you figure that out?

trdsf

#44
Quote from: SGOS on October 04, 2018, 09:50:15 AM
I'm still not getting it.

Oh wait:

Ï€

There!  I typed Ï€ using [Num Lock-alternate- 227] and then enclosed it in Times New Roman:  Ï€  It doesn't show up as the regular pi symbol in the text editor, but it shows up in the "preview mode".

How did you figure that out?
I do a certain amount of amateur typesetting.  I was responsible for the grammatical and typographical editing of the APA I co-founded in the early '90s, and I experiment with font design, and of course the layout of my own writing to get a feel for how it will look if and when published.  Ï€ should exist in all TrueType/OpenType faces, so it should be available in all ten faces available in this forum software, thusly:

Courier: π
Arial: π
Arial Black: π
Impact: π
Verdana: π
Times New Roman: π
Georgia: π
Andale Mono: π
Trebuchet MS: π
Comic Sans MS: π

Verdana, which is the default face here, is really the outlier as it alone lacks the little overhangs of the top bar that helps visually differentiate pi from lower case n.  Arial is dull, but at least it has those.
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan