A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)
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A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)
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Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)
#2[deleted]
Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)
#3Bonus points for doing this while going down. Taking public transportation as part of my daily commute involves a lot of stair climbing and descending. I always find it fascinating to watch the people who rush from bus to train platform and watch them descend 2 stairs at a time (basically always doing long long long) the whole way down. I've never been brave enough to try this method of descending though.
Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)
#4Busted. I count the number of stairs of buildings I visit, but know the number of stairs per flight (not always the same) in the buildings I frequent.
At one place, it's (4-7-8-7-7-4-7-5-12) to get to the top. It's useful if you don't want to turn on the light and wake people up.
Most of the time, when the number of stairs is odd, I'll go one, then two-two-two-two. When it's even, it'll be either two-two-two, or one-two-two-one..
I might be having a conversation with someone while going up or down the stairs, but the process in my head with the count and the fun I'm having is nice.
Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)
#5Yes, but do you start at 0 or 1? Also, is the last step you take onto the floor/landing counted?
And when going down, do you use negative numbers?
So many questions left unanswered. I feel you aren't a true stair counting nerd afterall.
:-)
Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)
#6Bonus points for doing this while going down. Taking public transportation as part of my daily commute involves a lot of stair climbing and descending. I always find it fascinating to watch the people who rush from bus to train platform and watch them descend 2 stairs at a time (basically always doing long long long) the whole way down. I've never been brave enough to try this method of descending though.
it’s easy once you’ve done it a couple of times. literally that easy to learn.
Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)
#7I'm the type of person who quantifies a lot of information from my everyday life, but it has never occurred to me to count the number of steps on flights of stairs that I climb. Quantification isn't a costless activity, and knowing numbers of steps just doesn't seem useful. I'm content to remain ignorant of these data.
Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)
#8Bonus points for doing this while going down. Taking public transportation as part of my daily commute involves a lot of stair climbing and descending. I always find it fascinating to watch the people who rush from bus to train platform and watch them descend 2 stairs at a time (basically always doing long long long) the whole way down. I've never been brave enough to try this method of descending though.
Honest question, why are you afraid of trying skipping steps on the way down? I ask because I've always done this, and when I'm with company they comment incredulously how quickly I descend the stairs. It never even occurred to me it was difficult or special before.
Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)
#9Bonus points for doing this while going down. Taking public transportation as part of my daily commute involves a lot of stair climbing and descending. I always find it fascinating to watch the people who rush from bus to train platform and watch them descend 2 stairs at a time (basically always doing long long long) the whole way down. I've never been brave enough to try this method of descending though.
For some reason I always (if reasonable, and that's often) climb and descend two steps at a time, like you describe. It's quick, and doesn't even tire much more than doing short-short-short, since while the exertion is a little higher, the entire staircase takes a lot less time.
At some point you get good enough at this stuff to descend a staircase, quickly, at a busy train station (somewhat; can't be too busy because then the stairs are too crowded) with no arm rests in range, while you hurry to the underground bicycle storage. There you take two steps down at a time, then get your bike up those stairs (bike in a gutter) in the same way, and not miss a stride when you jump on the bike to cycle to school.
It also feels really efficient. I've never fallen yet doing this stuff, though there have been cases while descending some staircase where I came a bit closer than I'd like.
Addendum: I don't count stairs, by the way. Apparently not nerdy enough.
Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)
#10Busted. I count the number of stairs of buildings I visit, but know the number of stairs per flight (not always the same) in the buildings I frequent. At one place, it's (4-7-8-7-7-4-7-5-12) to get to the top. It's useful if you don't want to turn on the light and wake people up. Most of the time, when the number of stairs is odd, I'll go one, then two-two-two-two. When it's even, it'll be either two-two-two, or one-…
I take one step at a time and count stairs on my left foot (but don't alter my walking pattern). So if I happen to start taking the stairs on my left foot, I'll count 1-3-5-7, etc., otherwise it's 2-4-6-8. It can switch between evens or odds whenever landings are involved.
I know the # of stairs per flight at home and at work, not sure about other places though.