Should You Walk or Run through the Rain?
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This Demonstration is a two-dimensional representation of how rain hits a person. In the dark blue region, the person is hit by raindrops from the top; in the light blue region, the person is hit from the front. As the person's speed changes, the area of the rain target region changes; a larger area means that more raindrops hit the person. A larger person is, of course, hit by more raindrops. In conclusion, to stay driest, run as fast as possible so that most of the water hitting your body is from the front.
Contributed by: Kien Le (February 2017)
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA
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Details
This was a project for Advanced Topics in Mathematics II, 2016–2017, Torrey Pines High School, San Diego, CA.
Reference
[1] D. Hailman and B. Torrents, "Soggy Jogging in Flatland: A 2D Analysis of Running in the Rain," Math Horizons, 17(2), 2009 pp. 22–24. doi:10.4169/194762109X476518.
Permanent Citation