Application

Cam-based Mathematics

This is an awesome old-school style video demonstrating how simple cam-based mechanical systems can be implemented to process numbers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F7m02XDfvE

Calculating reciprocals, squares, and tangents using rotating disks:  it’s amazing stuff!  I wish I had seen (and appreciated) something like this as a young student.  It might have made me appreciate engineering a little more.

Be sure to check out the barrel cam at the end that is used to compute gun elevation.  I imagine something like this is at the heart of the mechanical calculators out there.

By patrick honner, ago

Basketball and Graph Theory

This is an fascinating article about how scientists at Arizona State University’s Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity are using mathematical modeling to study and evaluate basketball teams.

http://asunews.asu.edu/20110406_nbadynamics

Through analyzing ball movement on offense, a graph, or network, is created to model the team’s play.  By studying and comparing these networks, ASU mathematicians and scientists are able to start asking, and answering, interesting mathematical questions.

For example, the LA Lakers were identified as a “high entropy” team.  This means that the Lakers’ ball movement on offense is less predictable than a “low entropy” team like the Utah Jazz.

Furthermore, analysis suggests that a player’s shooting percentage may not be the most important quantitative characteristic on offense; the shot by itself may be less important than the sequence of plays that led up to it.

Another fascinating and exciting story at the intersection of math and sports!

By patrick honner, ago
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