Recent content by steveZ

It was a mistake I made when doing the algebra. A factor of two on one of the terms that went into the quadratic. I caught it on my third try solving for R. Here is the latest result, which seems correct. Thanks again for your help.

You are exactly right. I have done the solution but, because of the messy algebra, it is easy to make mistakes. I have written code to plot my results and also the circle and line whose intersection we are trying to find. You can see in the image below that there is a small error that I am...

Thank you, Rob, I will take a look at these links.

I wish that were so, but if you look at the diagram again, I think you will see that it is not so easy.

Of course, thanks. I like the idea of thinking of a circle with radius w with origin at point F that includes point R. In fact, the physical meaning of this problem came from realizing that, if you do it backwards and start with known R, there is a circle of radius w comprising possible points...

I absolutely will. I replied to your post before I saw his.

Thank you very much, Mark. This looks promising and I will follow up on it.

I have filled many sheets of paper with attempts to solve using algebra and trigonometry but did not want to bore you with the many blind alleys I have navigated. This is not a "homework" problem. What is an OP?

It's for a personal project. I have tried many things, including setting equations for the two lines equal to each other, substitutions to reduce the number of unknowns, etc. The closest I've come was to get a horrendously complicated quadratic equation with Rx^2 and Rx. I am not comfortable...

The image below should explain the problem and the constraints. Basically, I know the location of one point (F) in 2-D space (Cartesian coordinates). A line segment (w) of known length connects this point to another point (R). The coordinates of R are unknown; however, it is known to lie on a...

I think I can shed a little light on this. The technique you are describing is often used, and it is known as a "bunny hop". The rider springs upward just before the front wheel goes off the edge. The light bicycle comes along with him and the result is that both wheels are off the ground and...

I am not sure I understand your observations related to the cranks. I should have specified in the original formulation of the problem that the rider would not be pedaling as he goes off the drop—the pedals would be horizontal and the rider would be standing on them (probably crouching, really...

Learning to manual is a long-term project for me. I built a so-called "manual machine" out of wood to help learn, after an unfortunate incident where I "looped out" and landed hard on my back. Many experts suggest that you should only manual off a drop if (a) you are going too slow to simply...

Exactly. I think its an important point that on a bicycle the rider masses much more than the bike. So it may be easy to change CoM.

Very nice! Thanks, Dr Hutch.