Science & Technology - Posted by Carol Clark-Emory on Wednesday, July 28, 2010 15:02 - 2 Comments 
(7 votes, average: 2.71 out of 5)
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(7 votes, average: 2.71 out of 5) Loading ...Why math brains fall for rock climbing
EMORY (US)—What’s it like to fall 40 feet down a sheer cliff face, while dangling from a rope hundreds of feet from the ground?
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The text of this article by Futurity is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License.
Watch the video of Emory University mathematician Skip Garibaldi describe his rock climbing experiences on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.
He also explains some basic climbing math, such as the fall factor used to reduce the risk of injury during a rope climb.
“Climbing has a lot of puzzles that have to be solved,” Garibaldi says. “It’s not just strength or skill. You really have to think about the different ways you can place your body.”
The sport seems to attract mathematicians, he adds.
“When I learned how to climb, in San Diego, Mike Freedman was a professor there. He has the Fields Medal for his work on the Poincaré conjecture, and he helped develop the San Diego climbing scene.”
One of Garibaldi’s collaborators, noted French mathematician Jean-Pierre Serre, “has bouldered at Fontainebleau, near Paris, for decades,” Garibaldi says.
And mathematician John Gill, who went to high school in Atlanta, and graduated from the University of Georgia, is considered the father of modern bouldering by many climbers.
More science news from Emory: http://esciencecommons.blogspot.com/
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2 Comments
Rob N
Manu Ganji
how can this be an science article? this is way lower than normal futurity standards.
Not sure how this qualifies as a science article. One guy giving some anecdotal evidence based on personal experience?
Not that I doubt math nerds enjoy this kind of thing – one more piece of anecdotal evidence: I have a math minor, computer engineering major, and climbed Devil’s Tower in college, still enjoy bouldering.
Another area that mathmeticians/engineers seem to enjoy is juggling. I’ve gone to juggling groups and conventions and there are two main groups of people: artists and engineers. There is a lot of math and patterns involved in creating new juggling styles to avoid collisions and in passing. And they have that crazy numbering nomenclature to describe different juggling patterns.