2. Stuntman Math: Jumping off a Building

This is a repost of Mathspig’s very popular Stuntman/woman series.

The main concern when jumping off a building is that the airbag (cardboard boxes) cover the drop zone.

The maths calculations involved in jumping off a building are straightforward. You might like to check out How Maths Solved a real murder.

Jump Height that Kills

It doesn’t take much of a fall to cause damage. Sean Hughes, professor of surgery at Imperial College, London. Says “From a height of 3m you could fracture your spine,” he says. “At around 10m, you’re looking at very serious injuries.” (The Guardian, 20 MAY 2014)

Stunt Jump from building from standing start

As this jump – as in most base jumps – involves a standing start:

Airbagsupplies.

Stunt jump from building running

We will assume you are no Usain Bolt. His running speed, the fastest in the world, is 44.72 km/h (12.42m/s, 27.44 mph).

We’ll say your running speed on take-off is:

V_y = 15 mph = 24.1 kph = 6.7 m/sec

Don’t do this at home.

NB: Airbag dimensions: 20m x 20m x 4 m

Handstand of death

Would you jump off a 25 story building?

 

3. STUNTMAN MATH: Motorbike Jump

This is a repost of Mathspig’s very popular Stuntman/woman series.

Star Stuntmen

Star Stuntmen Monte Perin (pictured) has involved many films, including “Spider-Man,” “Star Trek, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and portraying Arnold Schwarzenegger’s stunt double in “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.”

Perhaps his most difficult stunt was landing his Harley in an open boxcar of a moving train for Disney’s 2008 Adam Sandler movie “Bedtime Stories”. In a career of over 25 years Perin has broken “almost everything” including both his arms, legs, knees, feet, ankles, several ribs, his back and his pelvis. See Confessions of a stuntman

Veteran stuntman Evel Knievel (1938 – 2007) was the pioneer of many stunt jumps. Here he is jumping 10 cars and 3 vans in 1973.

His injuries are legendary:

More Evel Knievel

Ramp Design

The angle of the kicker in ramp design can vary from 10⁰ – 70⁰ (See below)

 

Moto-X Ramp Jump Maths

 

 

 

As any bike nut knows increasing speed and angle of take off will increase jump distance.

Here is a graph from final gear for speed vs angle to jump 90m.

 

METHOD 1 is approximate (See STEP 1 & STEP 2 above), but as METHOD 2 produces the same ans (See above), it is very useful.

You will find a thoroughly detailed calc for STUNT JUMP MATHS here:

And everything you ever wanted to know about PHYSICS OF STUNT JUMPS here. 

Why do so many students HATE MATH? … um, you know, BOREDOM

According to ‘Bored Out of Their Minds’, an article by ZACHARY JASON in The Harvard Ed Magazine (2017):

Boredom accounts for nearly a third of the variation in student achievement. 

Half of high school dropouts cite boredom as their primary motivator for leaving.

Boredom begins for Math students at Grade 6 when students (Common Core Standards, USA) tackle more abstract concepts such as linear eqns, exponents, probability, geometry and so on.

Math curriculums in the USA, UK & Australia all demand students solve REAL LIFE problems. Too often these are of the type:

Q. Ronaldo has tethered his goat on a 12ft rein in the corner of a 20ft square field. What area can the goat graze?

THE ANS: Who cares?

Simple.

Ask students maths questions which have answers they want to know.

Students really don’t care about Ronaldo’s goat, but here are some questions which involve intriguing answers they might want to work out. And many of these questions involve funny or age-relevant activities, which also helps engagement.

1. Mean, Median STATS: Mean, Median and Coffee: Busting an Urban Myth

2. Parabolas: Can you beat the 12-14 yo World Record for a Watermelon Pip spit?

3. Geometry: Build a Freestanding Tower

Rates (Speed) & Units:

4a. The Terrifying Math of Running from a bear

USA Units

METRIC UNITS

4b. How old is your hair?

5. Decimals, %, Volume: What Volume of alcohol is lethal for teens?

6. Decimals, Algebra, Weight Units

How much blood can a kid lose and survive?

USA UNITS

Metric Units

Graph Hunger Game Math

7. GEOMETRY. Angles

Why killer heels can kill!

Any Topic:

8. Middle School Math Photo Scavenger Hunt

9. Write Your Own Math Song

Space Math Song here

10. Make a Math Poster

EVEN TEACHERS GET BORED!!!

The average time it takes an audience at a conference to switch off is 11 minutes. Keep in mind this audience is, at least, being paid to be bored witless.

Make a Cool Pattern with x2 Tables… but it is trickier than you think.

A COOL MIDDLE SCHOOL MATH EXERCISE

This idea comes from Burkard and Giuseppe @ the fabulous MATHOLOGER channel. Students can make a pattern called a cardioid that pops up all over math according to Burkard.

Follow these steps. There is a pdf file below the first diagram for printing exercise sheets.

And then watch the MATHOLOGER video for a really interesting explanation.

x2 Tables on a Circle pdf file for printing

This circle graph blank could also be used for x3 and x4 tables, which produce totally different yet equally amazing patterns.

Halfway there, now it gets tricky. +52 to each point on the circle and keep multiplying by 2.

ie. 27 x 2 = 54, 28 x 2 = 56 and so on.

so 0 = 52, 1 = 53, 2 = 54, 3 = 55, 4 = 56 etc

This shape is called a CARTIOID.

JOKE like no one’s listening. DANCE like a Mathematician

It must be the off season. Or the heat in the Northern Summer. Or desperation. Reader’s Digest has just published 37 Math Jokes.  Mathematicians are not known for the jokes. But here are 3 goodish ones.

ANS: He’ll stop at nothing to avoid them.

ANS: A roamin’ numeral.

ANS: Probably.

Here is a classic MATHSPIG JOKE:

And while we are being crazy cool kids here is a TED Talk on Mathematicians Dancing. I would call this a Mathfail because these guys DO NOT look as though they are having fun. Or, maybe, just maybe, the success of a joke or a dance is all in the delivery.

 

 

The Equation that tried to break the internet!!!

The following equation went viral on Twitter like the Yanni & Laurel sound Tweet. What answer do you get?

The Equation that tried to stump the internet! New York Times

FRANTIC FRIDAY: Crazy Math Word Maze USA edition

PDF file: Crazy math maze work sheet 1 USA

PDF file: Crazy math maze work sheet 2 USA

CRAZY MATH MAZE WORKSHEET ANSWER

PDF File: Crazy math maze work sheet ANS USA