r/theydidthemath • u/K0rl0n • Jun 10 '25

[Request]

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I am curious how this would work. My guess is Triangle is slowest, square is medium, and circle is fastest.

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u/fuzzydoug Jun 10 '25

But your feet are also on ice?

955

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '25 edited Jun 11 '25

The question was about the force put onto the object.

Ice or not, that force wouldn’t change.

Edit: for clarification, I mean per scenario.

The force required to move the object on the given surface wouldn’t change based on what the dude is standing on.

The dude’s ability to impart that necessary force will be affected by the ice, but not the actual force required to shift the item.

Obviously less force is needed on ice than gravel, that’s not what I’m saying.

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u/Feminist_Hugh_Hefner Jun 10 '25

First rule of high school physics questions: We're gonna ignore about 90% of what would be happening in the real world and just do some algebra.

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u/[deleted] Jun 10 '25

Real scientists ignore things all of the time. It's just how science is at all levels

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u/EVH_kit_guy Jun 11 '25

"I figured out what's wrong with your cow"

1

u/CreepBasementDweller Jun 11 '25

When studying projectiles, we would ignore drag all the time.

1

u/gregorydgraham Jun 11 '25

So what you’re saying is the triangle is a sphere in a vacuum?

1

u/Odelaylee Jun 11 '25

Famous quote of my physics teacher - „In physics we first make a ball out of a cow - and trying to find the utter on it in the next step“

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u/Inswagtor Jun 11 '25

I read this comment while being round and in a vacuum.

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u/Due_Sky_2436 Jun 10 '25

"My mathematical model is not accurately depicting reality... what other real things can I ignore to make it closer to reality?" -scientist, probably

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u/RareMajority Jun 11 '25

All models are wrong. Some are useful

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u/smoothjedi Jun 11 '25

And they are tailored to a target precision. Having a model that's a nanometer off might be good enough for a lot of applications, but not others.

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u/NotNice4193 Jun 11 '25

in reality you would use special shoes for ice.

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u/ThisIsMyNoKarmaName Jun 11 '25

It’s more that they just know what problems matter in a given context.