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A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)

blog.tanyakhovanova.com

21–30 of 99 posts

Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)

#21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't. It's bad enough that the US and UK can't agree on floor numbering. :) USA 1st, 2nd, 3rd UK Ground, 1st, 2nd Is the basement in the US 0?

No, like the creator of the Anno Domini system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_zero , American elevator labelers do not believe in “unnatural” numbers < 1. Below the “first floor” they jump straight to B1.

Some US buildings also skip the 13th floor. Does the UK share this superstition?

Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)

#22
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For descending, on some stairs I can descend while "falling", it's very fast and not tyring it all. You have to land on the edge of the stair below so you "drop", then rinse and repeat. If you do it constantly, you only have to support your body ( but you use your weight to fall, so don't support it too much) and slide with your hands. If you can't do it the first time, land with your foot normally and then always tu…

Take a look at my reply, we're doing the same damn thing! It's probably rather common.

Lol, my legs do the same thing though while dropping. So a small variation on it :D

An other variation would be to keep your feet in a 45° and then keep doing and landing on every stair edge

Never seen someone else doing that, it's insanely fast if you can master it :D

Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)

#23
‘You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen the steps which lead up from the hall to this room.’

‘Frequently.’

‘How often?’

‘Well, some hundreds of times.’

‘Then how many are there?’

‘How many! I don’t know.’

‘Quite so. You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, because I have both seen and observed.’

Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson, A Scandal In Bohemia, 1891

Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)

#24
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Take a look at my reply, we're doing the same damn thing! It's probably rather common.

Lol, my legs do the same thing though while dropping. So a small variation on it :D An other variation would be to keep your feet in a 45° and then keep doing and landing on every stair edge Never seen someone else doing that, it's insanely fast if you can master it :D

Did that in my childhood on wooden stairs in my parents house. Rounded edges, kid of hazardous in general but great to slide down like this. Kind of want to try this again, but I also value the integrity of my bones.

Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)

#26
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, like the creator of the Anno Domini system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_zero , American elevator labelers do not believe in “unnatural” numbers < 1. Below the “first floor” they jump straight to B1.

Some US buildings also skip the 13th floor. Does the UK share this superstition?

Occasionally, in buildings designed for American businesses, like some of the large bank buildings.

Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)

#27
Was holding off on the Fibonacci connection. Its kind of simple, obvious and by now cliche, but can hold my breath for only so long.

Was asked this in a phone interview, I had no clue that Fibonacci would so delightfully turn up on the staircase.

Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)

#28
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol, my legs do the same thing though while dropping. So a small variation on it :D An other variation would be to keep your feet in a 45° and then keep doing and landing on every stair edge Never seen someone else doing that, it's insanely fast if you can master it :D

Did that in my childhood on wooden stairs in my parents house. Rounded edges, kid of hazardous in general but great to slide down like this. Kind of want to try this again, but I also value the integrity of my bones.

I only do it when i can place both of my hands for support and if my hands can slide on it.

It's not dangerous i think though, wooden stairs works best indeed :p

Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)

#29
post #5

Yes, 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. :-)

I know you're joking, but the number of steps is well defined and doesn't vary as it's essentially a difference. The difference between two numbers is always the same regardless of whether you're using a 0-indexed or a 1-indexed base system. E.g. regardless of whether you call an element in an array [1] or [2], it's still two elements away from whatever is [3] or [4] -- the number of stairs climbed is the same. So yo…

[deleted]

Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)

#30
post #5

Yes, 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. :-)

For me, I have always counted it as a step if my foot-in-the-air lands on a different level than the other foot.

So, if I am walking; & approach a flight of stairs going upwards, before until my both feet are on same plane, stairs have not started & I can't start counting. As soon as I step "up", my feet is on different (higher in this case going upwards), I count it as first stair. Same on the other side. I continue counting till I am stepping up. As soon as I land my both feets on same level; any foot-step after that doesn't get counted in step-count.

Other way to count steps are imagine if we look ar stairs' drawing or cross-section view from side; i.e. a right-angled zig-zag line going up. On both ends, ground & landing lines are also there i.e. the drawing has always a horizontal line on upper & lower side representing floor & landing. This line is from bottom-left; going upwards towards top-right; the drawing's triangular section of bottom-right is, assume, filled in with concrete/anything; & a person walks on left-top section.

Any 90 degree outward bend on this side is a step.

           ┍────   
          ┍┙
         ┍┙
        ┍┙
   ────┙
Four steps in above.
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