Re: Coopertition in the Olympics
 

I felt like the following is appropriate here.



- Sunny G.

Re: Coopertition in the Olympics
 

[pointless gripe about a children's movie]The "Flying V" would be offsides almost every time.[/pointless gripe about a children's movie]

Re: Coopertition in the Olympics
 

Not sure. Maybe geese are smart, but not THAT smart? Or...just don't care for aesthetics.

Re: Coopertition in the Olympics
 

50% of the time there will be an even number of geese, forcing one side to be longer. Everyone has already noted that.
When there are an odd number of geese lining up randomly, they will be longer on one side 2/3's of the time, given the overly simplified three options:

1) longer on the left
2) longer on the right
3) evenly matched

So, in combined odd/even cases the best it can ever be is 17% of the time the two sides of the V will be balanced.

Now take it a bit further...
The probability of balanced V legs goes way, way down once you start considering the permutations of 1/2/3/4/etc. birds on each side, since for any n geese there will be n-1 unbalanced flight patterns, but only 1 balanced flight pattern.
For example, if you consider 9 birds, there are 8 possibilities of an uneven distribution of geese along the legs, and only 1 that produces balanced legs of the V, so given a random distribution, that's 89% of the 9-bird gaggles that will be uneven. The odds, of course, decrease even more as you add more birds (19 birds has a 95% chance of being an unbalanced V), since in only one permutation do they come out balanced. Odds grow better with fewer birds, but the very best you can get is 1/3 of the 3 bird case will have even V legs.
Taking the 9-bird case as an arbitrary median number of birds, add in the 50% of the time when there's going to be an even number of birds, that cannot be balanced, and that gives us ~94% of the time the V legs will not be even.

I suspect ultimately that it's just because geese cannot count, geese have no foolish desire for geometrical consistency, and they all like to fly next to the popular one...

However, maybe it's because competition badminton shuttlecocks are only made from the left wing feathers of geese, and the geese thereafter list to one side.

Re: Coopertition in the Olympics
 

Archery?

Re: Coopertition in the Olympics
 

Ooo, perhaps the predominance of right-handed archers has something to do with it.

Re: Coopertition in the Olympics
 

I didn't read closely enough. :)

Jane

Re: Coopertition in the Olympics
 

Oops, sorry. It was late.

Re: Coopertition in the Olympics
 

Here's another observation experiment for you the next time you are at a beach...

Pelicans (of the "Brown Pelican" variety on the USA OBX) I have observed fly in groups of 2^N (where max N I've witnessed is 5) quite often, as in a statistically significant often. Count pelicans the next time you see some flying by. As 2^N is even, this makes one leg of the V they often fly in longer, too. :)

Re: Coopertition in the Olympics
 

[/birdtalk]

Re: Coopertition in the Olympics
 

That's what I was thinking too! I haven't watched any this year but I distinctly remember Athens 2004 when in the final race the two leaders who were well out in front kept switching positions for the reason you listed.

Re: Coopertition in the Olympics
 

Agreed! Sorry for the goose tangent. :)

Re: Coopertition in the Olympics
 

Bingo! Now that's an answer that makes sense to me!
Why does it not surprise me that Mark (of all CDers) has a valid statistical answer for this? :rolleyes: