Nov 30, 2009

Something wrong with the math here

Fellow skaters, our intellects have been impugned. Grateful Mom wants to know, if an axel is one and a half rotations, and 1 1/2 x 2 = 3, how come a double axel isn't 3 rotations?

I did not have an answer for this.

6 comments:

  1. axels should be changed indefinitely to "the jump that drives everyone nuts", and not just in the performance of the jump, but also the technicalities of it.

    first off, we all talk about "single" axels. single defines 1, however, the axel is a rotation and a half. so more should be said about it being a one and a half rotation jump rather than a "single". durf. i blame the forward edge takeoff that adds that silly little half rotation.

    by mathematical standards, 1 1/2 x 2 = 3, yes? we all learned this in grammar school. "double" suggests twice as many (multiply by 2 or adding the same number twice). but again... we forget about that pesky forward takeoff. i think the figure skater who started referring to a 2 1/2 rotation axel as a "double" missed his/her grammar school lesson on rounding to whole numbers... seeing as how they rounded down instead of up.

    and then you get into "triples" and now the insane "quadruple", both of which require cheated takeoffs... but that's a whole different techinical topic for a different day.

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  2. Me, I don't do technical! That's for you crazy FS coaches! Unless you count my amazing ability to get a tantruming child to skate as "technical!"

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  3. in short, figure skaters cannot do maff.

    the end.

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  4. Haha theres alot of reasons,
    1.when axel paulsen first did am axel it was extreamly cheated and only 1 revolution.
    2. You cheat the first rotation if you do it right so it really is only one rotation (single) or 2 (double) or 3 (triple)

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  5. Oh, anonymous you have revealed the secret of figure skating. All jumps are "cheated." Now you must die. ;)

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