Ask Uncle Colin: Radians Celsius
Dear Uncle Colin,
Inspired by a recent XKCD cartoon, I want to start measuring temperatures in radians celsius. How can I quickly convert between the two?
Made Up Nonsense? Réaumur’s Octogesimal
First up, MUNRO, that’s a really bad idea. I’ve said elsewhere that I don’t like degrees for measuring angles, as has Matrix the dragon; that doesn’t mean they’re bad for measuring other things. (Degrees Fahrenheit are obviously ridiculous, though. No argument there.)
But – with a heavy heart, and noting that water now boils at
Noting that
That simplifies down to
This method boils down to “multiply or divide by
Let’s take the current temperature in Weymouth, which is 6ºC. The radians temperature will be smaller, so I need to multiply by
The temperature in the comic is 0.173 radians (although it’s not specified whether it’s Celsius or Fahrenheit). This, you multiply by
-- Uncle Colin