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nathan
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  		   Posted 7/20/2007 1:56 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Remember in Mi III when Ethan Hunt whipped out a grease pencil and did a complicated bit of geometric ciphering to figure out a fulcrum so he could swing from one skyscraper to another?
 
Doesn't matter if the numbers were wrong as long as the set up looked authentic.
 
Anyone know any links or such to places where I could use established physics and geometric and calculus problem structures to use?
 
Like how high would the dirt mound have to be for my motorcyle rider to jump some parked cars and how fast would he have to be going?
 
I know there are established formulas for this kind of stuff but I can't seem to phrase my google search correctly.
 
Anyone? Anyone?

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"Writing the wet dreams of teenage boys" - Lindsey Llyod, Tangent Reviews
 
Tarantino himself has been forward and unapologetic about his influences. In a 1994 interview with Empire magazine, he said, "I steal from every single movie ever made. If people don't like that, then tough tills, don't go and see it, all right? I steal from everything. Great artists steal, they don't do homages."

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Christopher_Heath
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  		   Posted 7/20/2007 7:18 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
I'm not sure of any sites, but maybe this will help...

The angle of the dangle is inversely proportional to the heat of the meat.

Oh, also d=r(t).

Christopher M. Heath
 
"Azieran: Adairos" in Tower of Light Fantasy Magazine
"Azieran: Savior in a Flask" in Mages and Mechanica by Ricasso Press
"Azieran: The Travelers Four" in Black Dragon, White Dragon by Ricasso Press
"Azieran: The Breaking of Hell's Bones" in Black Sails by 1018 Press
"Azieran: Distilling the Essence" in Sails and Sorcery by Fantasist Enterprises
"Azieran: The Conquerors" in Chimaera Serials
"Azieran: Pawn of the Serpentine Witch" in Chronicles of Fantasy by ComStar Media
"Azieran: Sentinel of an Ageless Reign" in Chronicles of Fantasy by ComStar Media
"Azieran: The Lakeshorn Mirrors" in Chronicles of Fantasy by ComStar Media 
"Azieran: Crestfallen in Mal'kyrrik" serialized novella in Forgotten Worlds 
 
 
 + others
 
 
 
 

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Rob Santa
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  		   Posted 7/21/2007 12:07 AM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Nathan, my wife is a school administrator. If you don't have an answer by Monday I'll have her ask the science and math departments.

Rob


Rob Santa
Hopelessly Addicted Writer of Speculative Fiction
and CEO of Ricasso Press

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crystalwizard
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  		   Posted 7/21/2007 3:06 AM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Nathan, go to google and search on "math formula"

Never meddle in the affairs of a wizard unless you are soggy and hard to light!

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crystalwizard
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  		   Posted 7/21/2007 3:09 AM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
nathan said...

Like how high would the dirt mound have to be for my motorcyle rider to jump some parked cars and how fast would he have to be going?


on a side note, I hope you're going to give him a way to land. Motorcycle stunt riders spend hours learning how to land without wiping out. Normal motorcyclists don't do so good.

You might want to look at some Xtreme Sports videos of guys on bikes and cycles to get an idea of what can happen (and how to describe it)

Never meddle in the affairs of a wizard unless you are soggy and hard to light!

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Dragon Angel
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  		   Posted 7/21/2007 10:25 AM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
You don't need calculus for this problem

you need his starting height (top of the mound of sand)--call it yinitial
you need his ending height--call it yfinal
you need his velocity--call it v
you need the angle of the hill--call it theta
you need the distance he has to travel horizontally--call it xfinal
you need the time in the air--call it t

first formula:
xfinal=v * t * cos(theta)
yfinal=-(1/2) * (acceleration due to gravity) * t * t + v * t * sin(theta) + yinitial

the negative sign is there because the acceleration due to gravity is downward, while the initial velocity is upward.

read free fiction and poetry at http://www.geocities.com/davidolson22/index.html
 
Part dark, part light. And gooey in the middle.

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Dragon Angel
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  		   Posted 7/21/2007 10:27 AM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
There is no one height or theta that works, as they depend on the velocity.

read free fiction and poetry at http://www.geocities.com/davidolson22/index.html
 
Part dark, part light. And gooey in the middle.

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crystalwizard
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  		   Posted 7/21/2007 10:37 AM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Or avoid the problem all together, just have him scribble some calculations on a pad (if he's doing the math) and describe the ride and jump in nerve wracking details and let the reader worry about the math. If you don't give specifics like how many cars beyond saying 'a line of cars' or 'a few cars' or 'some cars' then they can't accuse you of not using accurate calculations.

Never meddle in the affairs of a wizard unless you are soggy and hard to light!

Visit my art gallery on art wanted at
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nathan
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  		   Posted 7/21/2007 1:38 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Thanks guys. Yep the numbers are of secondary important as much as I like to have good technical correctness. I just like the idea of having an actual formula to put down on the page if I decide to nod my head toward Apollo 7 or Mi III and have a smart guy doing smart stuff.

Equations just look so ACADEMIC or something on the page don't they? Can be a good way to manipulate format to effect reader impact--which I know is a bit more meta-fiction-ish than a pulp guy like me is suppossed to be thinking like.

VIEW IMAGE
"Writing the wet dreams of teenage boys" - Lindsey Llyod, Tangent Reviews
 
Tarantino himself has been forward and unapologetic about his influences. In a 1994 interview with Empire magazine, he said, "I steal from every single movie ever made. If people don't like that, then tough tills, don't go and see it, all right? I steal from everything. Great artists steal, they don't do homages."

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nathan
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  		   Posted 7/21/2007 1:40 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Christopher_Heath said...
I'm not sure of any sites, but maybe this will help...

The angle of the dangle is inversely proportional to the heat of the meat.

Oh, also d=r(t).

I checked with my sources and this equation seems valid. The proof of the formula seems to come imperically from latest son; Noah Riley rofl

VIEW IMAGE
"Writing the wet dreams of teenage boys" - Lindsey Llyod, Tangent Reviews
 
Tarantino himself has been forward and unapologetic about his influences. In a 1994 interview with Empire magazine, he said, "I steal from every single movie ever made. If people don't like that, then tough tills, don't go and see it, all right? I steal from everything. Great artists steal, they don't do homages."

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crystalwizard
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  		   Posted 7/21/2007 1:43 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
nathan said...

Equations just look so ACADEMIC or something on the page don't they? Can be a good way to manipulate format to effect reader impact--which I know is a bit more meta-fiction-ish than a pulp guy like me is suppossed to be thinking like.


yes, but they also bore most readers who are into the book for the action, and they're likely to skim over them and growl at you for distracting them from the spectacular car chase scene.
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nathan
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  		   Posted 7/21/2007 2:01 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.

Action must be rising across story arch with each encounter growing in magnitude from less to greater. But it can't be continuous. Stimulus-response and internailizing of information to form judgements have to be inserted so that a lull follows a peak so that there can be a peak and not a flat platuea of action.

An argument with insults over a math problem is way to keep conflict into the story but allows you to step away from a gunfight or explosion for a moment to then start building again toward physicality.

Besides "my" target audience tends to be a little more Tom Clancy than Robert E Howard in term of trappings. They'll take timeout from a knife fight to read the specs on the latest piece of military hardware if it helps consolidate suspension of disbelief in the John Woo superhero style gun battle.

If you see what I'm saying.

 

VIEW IMAGE
"Writing the wet dreams of teenage boys" - Lindsey Llyod, Tangent Reviews
 
Tarantino himself has been forward and unapologetic about his influences. In a 1994 interview with Empire magazine, he said, "I steal from every single movie ever made. If people don't like that, then tough tills, don't go and see it, all right? I steal from everything. Great artists steal, they don't do homages."

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Dragon Angel
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  		   Posted 7/21/2007 2:24 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
One thing to keep in mind, this problem is done in introductory physics courses in college, by colelge freshman. It isn't going to make your character seem uber intelligent, if that was your goal.

read free fiction and poetry at http://www.geocities.com/davidolson22/index.html
 
Part dark, part light. And gooey in the middle.

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Dragon Angel
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  		   Posted 7/21/2007 2:27 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
The basic equations are:

position=(1/2)*a*t*t + v *t + initial position

a=acceleration
t=time
v=velocite
for the horizontal motion there is no acceleration, ignoring friction, which is reasonable
for the vertical part the accelleration is due to gravity

Then you write one equation for the horizontal component, one for the vertical, and solve.
the only geometry is the sin of the angle times the initial velocity is the vertical component, and the cosigin is the horizontal.

read free fiction and poetry at http://www.geocities.com/davidolson22/index.html
 
Part dark, part light. And gooey in the middle.

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nathan
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  		   Posted 7/21/2007 2:54 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Quite perfect DA. He doesn't need to be uber-brilliant, just well versed in a little computer tech, emergency medicine and the ability to think through some "angles" and such problems. Using your formula would fit the bill.

It comes down to, a little, like the "techno-babble" clause Star Trek used to use. [Here Warf ejcaulates about the warp coil: we cant "technobabble" a Bird of Prey it'll leave our "technobabble" open, Captain!, etc etc] Only "ten minutes into the future" instead of true Scinece fiction

Thank you. Have anymore :-)?

VIEW IMAGE
"Writing the wet dreams of teenage boys" - Lindsey Llyod, Tangent Reviews
 
Tarantino himself has been forward and unapologetic about his influences. In a 1994 interview with Empire magazine, he said, "I steal from every single movie ever made. If people don't like that, then tough tills, don't go and see it, all right? I steal from everything. Great artists steal, they don't do homages."

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Dragon Angel
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  		   Posted 7/21/2007 3:02 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Not sure what you are looking for really at this point

read free fiction and poetry at http://www.geocities.com/davidolson22/index.html
 
Part dark, part light. And gooey in the middle.

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crystalwizard
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  		   Posted 7/21/2007 3:37 PM (GMT -5)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Me either. Nate, how about a bit of the scene or at least a better description. I hope you're not saying you're going to have the hero on a motorcycle roaring toward a pile of lumber intending to jump some cars, then suddenly have him start doing math in his head to figure out if he'll succeed or not. Or worse, have him do a flashback to the night before, sitting around with a couple buddies working out this jump?

Never meddle in the affairs of a wizard unless you are soggy and hard to light!

Visit my art gallery on art wanted at
http://artwanted.com/crystalwizard

All my books in print:
http://sojourn.omnitech.net

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