To Celebrate Pi Day, 10 Examples of Numbers and 10 Examples of Math Involved with Horses
Thoughts
Numbers
Dressage ring measurements
Speed in timed events: jumpers, barrel racing etc.
Jump numbers for jumpers, 2/3 of eventing, obstacles, and cones
Course length & optimum time on cross-country and marathon
Fence heights and widths in jumping disciplines; distance between fences, ditto
Horse height measured in hands
Sizes in blankets and bits and shoes for horses; sizes in boots and saddles and shirts for people
Temperature, pulse, and respiration measurements, for health or conditioning
Pounds of feed, quarts of grain, percentage of protein
Weight of horse, dosage markers on paste tubes
Math
Setting up a dressage ring corners. a^2 + b^ = c^2.
Dressage ring geometry. Distance from the corner letter to where my 20 meter circle needs to touch the side. Half of circle, 10 meters. Corner to F, 6 meters. Therefore, aim at a point 4m past F. 10m – 6m = 4m.
Dressage scores. One ) Individual movements and collective marks. 6.5+7+5.5+7+5.5+5+6+5.5+7+6.5+6+12+6+6+6=97.5 Two) Convert to percent of total possible. 97.5/160 = 60.938 [Words]
Converting dressage score to eventing penalty points. There use to be a multiplier (I thought?), but that appears to have gone by the boards, USEA, Rule Refresher: Dressage Scoring Aug 2019. 100% – 60.938% = 39.062%
Calculating split times on course for cross-country and marathon. Where do I need to be when in order to come home without time penalties? See photo [Gator Data]
Converting faults to time. Show Jumping Table C appears to be straight up 1 time fault = 1 second. The show jumping phase of Eventing is 0.4 of a penalty per second (or part of a second). One knockdown & three seconds over = 4 + .4 x 3 = 4 + 1.2 = 5.2
Striding in combinations and lines. 12 feet per stride minus landing and take-off. (On average, in reality, adjusted for horse, terrain, fence construction, etc, etc, etc.) 36 feet – 6 feet x 2 = 24 feet = 2 strides.
Optimistic calculations. If the next level is X and I am jumping Y how much higher do I have to be able to jump? I prefer not to put numbers on this one. Current jump height for either horse is not conductive to a positive mindset. Desired height – current height = schooling gap.
Converting horse height to human height. 16 hands x 4 + 2 inches = 66 inches => 66 inches / 12 inches per foot = 5 feet, 6 inches.
Hay usage. 20 bales at 1/2 bale per day = run out in 40 days.
Around the Internet
A group is using horses to explain math, Horse Lover’s Math: Understanding Math Through Horses
The Tau Manifesto, No, really, pi is wrong…
Happy Pi Day!
What have I missed?
Update
[Pi Horse]
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
Remember the ultimate PI day? 3/14/15. A rare an mystic event. 🙂
Looked at that educational page. What is “imperial version” vs. “Canadian metric” version? Is Canadian metric different from regular metric? Even tho for kids, looks like an interesting site.
I have dysgraphia, so numbers have always been a problem for me. It’s like dyslexia but with numbers, and is a real thing.
I believe Imperial is the weird non-metric measurements that the US & UK use. Yeah, I have to be really careful when I read numbers out loud. I get them messed up. Letters not at all. Weird.