See the video's if you want motive...
The knotty problem of choosing the optimum way of lacing up shoes has been
solved by a new mathematical proof.
The criss-cross and straight patterns (left and centre) are strongest, but
the bow-tie pattern (right) is the most efficient
There are many millions of different possibilities but, reassuringly, the
proof shows that centuries of human trial and error has already selected
out the strongest lacing patterns. However, the pattern using the least
amount of lace possible, the decorative "bowtie" lacing, is usually only
seen in shoe shop displays.
Burkard Polster, of Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, used
combinatorial mathematics to come up with his proof. This branch of maths
is used to solve a huge variety of problems, including resource allocation
and finding the best ways to lay chips in a computer.
Formulas describing the physics of pulleys were used to work out how much
force is exerted on the sides of a shoe using different lacing techniques.
The most widely used "criss-cross" and "straight" lacing patterns were
identified as the strongest.
But criss-cross came out on top for a short, wide set of eyeholes - that
is, when the vertical distance between eyeholes is low, and horizontal
distance is high. Straight lacing came out tops for a long, skinny set of
eyeholes.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993136
Laces high Nature.com
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