[math-fun] pile of sand constant

3 Apr 2007

      Hello,

  I have this information about a certain constant
associated with a pile of sand. Apparently the ratio
of the half the base to the height is approx. 4/3.

I don't remember where I saw that for the first time,
empirically, well at least for ordinary and dry sand,
it looks like it is. In other words,  a pile of sand
will always have the same shape regardless of the size,
or the slope is constant.

Is there anybody that has any information about this
phenomena? Is this known ?

Simon Plouffe