美国数学建模竞赛特等奖论文——2003 A O Thinking Outside the Box and Over the Elephant【数学建模】.pdfVIP

Thinking Outside the Box 251 Thinking Outside the Box and Over the Elephant Melissa J. Banister Matthew Macauley Micah J. Smukler Harvey Mudd College Claremont, CA Advisor: Jon Jacobsen Abstract We present a mathematical model of the collapsing of a box structure, which is to be used to protect a stunt motorcyclist who jumps over an elephant. Reasonable values of the model’s parameters cause it to predict that we should construct the structure out of fifty 6 in × 28 in × 28 in boxes, stacked five high, two wide, and five long. In general, the model predicts that we should use boxes whose height is one-quarter of the harmonic mean of their length and width. We discuss the assumptions, derivation, and limitations of this model. Introduction A stunt motorcyclist jumps over an elephant; we use cardboard boxes to cushion the landing. Our goal is to determine how to arrange the boxes to protect the motorcyclist. We determine • how many boxes to use, • the size of the boxes. • the arrangement of the boxes, and • any modifications to the boxes. In addition, our model must accommodate motorcyclists jumping from dif- ferent heights and on motorcycles of different weights. Our goal is to reduce the impulse at landing, thus essentially simulating a much lower jump (of which we assume the rider is capable). c The UMAP Journal 24 (3) (2003) 251–262. Copyright 2003 by COMAP, Inc. All rights reserved. Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice. Abstracting with credit is permitted, but copyrights for components of this work owned by others than COMAP must be honored. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on ser