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Dedicating years of schooling to pursue higher math
degrees may help solve certain problems, but does it make any
difference for something as simple as cutting your grass? To find out, I
spent the week discussing the mathematics of lawn mowing with my
colleagues at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Our
thoughts generally split into two directions: If your lawn is simple
enough, then you can do some fairly specific calculations to figure out
the most efficient way to mow it. But if your lawn is weird enough, it
might resemble a famous mathematical allegory.
So
first you have to ask the question, “What is the topology of my lawn?”
Topology is a branch of math that’s only officially existed for about a
century. Some mathematicians call it “wiggly geometry” or “geometry
without measuring.” Topology studies how regions and surfaces are
similar or different, but not in terms of measurements like in geometry.
You
can remember it like this: “What’s the volume of a sphere?” is a
geometry question. “What’s the difference between a sphere and a donut?”
is a topology question...
If you need to mow a sprawling lawn, it might translate into a fun
little Graph Theory problem. But if you’ve been mowing it for years, you
probably already have the hang on mowing it efficiently. You don’t need
advanced math to solve this problem—maybe just to talk about it more
abstractly.
Source: Popular Mechanics
