# What's your favourite constant? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 21, 2006, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-constant/353559 "2006-04-21T01:22:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ace309](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ace309/32/1050_2.png) [@Ace309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace309)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-constant/353559/21 "2006-04-21T12:24:32Z")
Death. No, wait. Taxes. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-constant/353559/22 "2006-04-21T12:38:29Z")
The suckitude of my life. No, wait. That’s my _least_ favorite constant. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-constant/353559/23 "2006-04-21T13:33:45Z")
[QUOTE=Mbossa] I’d like to go a step further and pick an _undefinable_ constant. It should be an easy task, since there are “infinitely more” undefinable numbers than definable ones, but oddly enough nobody seems to have defined any. [/QUOTE] Pick your favorite well-ordering on **R** and choose the least undefinable number in [0, 1]. Couldn’t be simpler. ---
**Author:** ![LionelHutz405](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lionelhutz405/32/536_2.png) [@LionelHutz405](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LionelHutz405)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-constant/353559/24 "2006-04-21T14:08:49Z")
“Cook’s Constant” The number that when added to, or subtracted from, the answer you got, gives you the answer you should have got. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-constant/353559/25 "2006-04-21T14:28:04Z")
I’m going to put in a vote for the fine structure constant, which is discussed here: [Fine-structure constant - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine_structure_constant) That 1/137 just gives me goosebumps! ---
**Author:** ![Seren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@Seren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seren)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-constant/353559/26 "2006-04-21T14:34:00Z")
Favorite is ε[sub]0[/sub], the permittivity of free space. It’s just really useful. I absolutely hate Planck’s (and Dirac’s) constant. They remind me of extremely bad times in my life. ---
**Author:** ![Mariemarie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58f4c7/32.png) [@Mariemarie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mariemarie)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-constant/353559/27 "2006-04-21T14:43:09Z")
Another vote for _pi._ Picturing a polygon (with its perimeter and the altitude of one of its sides drawn in a thick dark line) with an ever increasing number of sides eventually morphing into a perfect circle, well, it makes my heart go all fluttery and my eyes get that far-away dreamy look. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-constant/353559/28 "2006-04-21T15:07:06Z")
“John Constantine: Hellblazer.” ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-constant/353559/29 "2006-04-21T15:34:09Z")
My favorite is the [Hubble](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_constant) constant, because it can’t yet be measured accurately, and may not actually be constant. Premature nomenclatural assumptions tickle me in that special place. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Meleemancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@Meleemancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meleemancer)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-constant/353559/30 "2006-04-21T17:06:59Z")
Twenty-nine posts and no one’s mentioned my choice, the speed of light in vacuum? I don’t know whether to be pleased or shocked. c = 3.00 x 10^8 m/s, so beautiful and easy to make estimations with. ---
**Author:** ![MissMossie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@MissMossie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissMossie)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-constant/353559/31 "2006-04-21T17:17:11Z")
i = (-1)^(1/2) In eleventh grade pre-calc, our first assignment of the year was to write about our feelings on math. I wrote a fairie tale based around imaginary numbers. They bring me great joy. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-constant/353559/32 "2006-04-21T18:04:08Z")
[QUOTE=Nametag] I’m going to put in a vote for the fine structure constant, which is discussed here: [Fine-structure constant - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine_structure_constant) That 1/137 just gives me goosebumps! [/QUOTE] That is my favorite, but it really isn’t 1/137 any more than pi is 22/7. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-constant/353559/33 "2006-04-21T18:22:10Z")
[QUOTE=MissMossie] i = (-1)^(1/2) In eleventh grade pre-calc, our first assignment of the year was to write about our feelings on math. I wrote a fairie tale based around imaginary numbers. They bring me great joy. [/QUOTE] I like \*i \* a whole lot too, and especially -_i_ ::brain explodes It looks lemon yellow with a hint of lime in my mind. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-constant/353559.md?page=1)