The Brachistochrone
 

I love stuff like this. I hope you enjoy the video as much as I did.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/skvnj67YGmw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

WoW! Very cool! The natural world is a never ending source of wonder.

Cool!

Cool! I love nerdy math stuff.

To me, that arc seems to be the ?natural? path of almost all diving aircraft at air shows (frequently traced by smoke). Anyone else see it that way? Hmmmm.

Speed, gravity & aerodynamics at work?

So you see the same thing? I'd imagine it to be more than coincidental but I've not seen a description of an explanation before this thread.

Geek wet dreams....

Very cool - love this sort of stuff.

That was fun to watch. Thanks

It is always cool to realize the people from so long ago figured this type of stuff out. They had no way to make it like Adam Savage did in the video, but they could visualize it and write about it. We tend to think they were inferior brutes because they lived in a time without technology but the ancients were just as intelligent as the people of today.

Totally cool video with useless information for day to day living. I enjoyed it.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/s86-Z-CbaHA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

There is a lot of that brachistochrone stuff at play sailing a multihull up wind.
Pinch as close to the wind as possible and slog along, or crack off a little for better speed and see if you get there quicker.

Throw in some current and it's a fun challenge

I just never knew the geek name for it, thanks

Cheers Richard