 |
 |
A final reminder of a joint RSS Glasgow Local Group/ORGS event tomorrow: "A statistical excursion in the isochronic hills" Speaker: Professor Phil Scarf, University of Salford http://www.salford.ac.uk/business-school/business-academics/philip-scarf Date: Thursday 11th December: Time: 17:00-18:00. Preceded briefly by RSS Glasgow Group AGM, and followed by drinks and nibbles. Place: Room LT908, Livingstone Tower, University of Strathclyde, G1 1XH (map: http://bit.ly/1BTke3O). Please register at https://sites.google.com/site/rssglasgow/events to help us plan seating and catering. Summary: The adventure racer, when competing in mountain navigation events, is often faced with an over-or-around route choice. Is it quicker to go over or around a hill when trying to get from a point A, on one side, to a point B, on the other? Route choice aesthetics are of no interest. The competitor wishes to get from A to B as efficiently as possible. Naismith's rule can be used in these circumstances. This rule relates climb to distance, and implies that, in terms of time taken, 1 unit of distance vertically is equivalent to N units of distance horizontally. Naismith in his original paper in 1892 in the Scottish Mountaineering Club journal implied that N=7.92. Now, if a route (from A to B) comprises a horizontal distance component of x units and a vertical distance component of y units, then x+Ny is the equivalent distance of the route. Given a choice between routes, the competitor should then ceteris paribus choose that route with minimum equivalent distance. This talk will consider a number of questions in this context: What are the origins of Naismith's rule? What is the connection between the rule, the treadmill crane at Harwich, and the Scottish Mathematician MacLaurin? What is the fastest mile ever run? Can N be estimated from data? Does N vary with age, that is, do veteran runners find ascent relatively more difficult, and therefore should they be more inclined to go around? If the over and around routes between points on opposites sides of a simply shaped hill are equivalent, is there a quicker route in between? What is the shape of an isochronic hill? Is the rule applicable to cycling? We hope to see you there. Best wishes on behalf of the Royal Statistical Society Glasgow Local Group committee [log in to unmask] Follow us on twitter @RSSGlasgow1 You may leave the list at any time by sending the command SIGNOFF allstat to [log in to unmask], leaving the subject line blank.