Pythago-Rock And Roll!
Pythagoras probably never expected his theorem to be used to carry out the successful reunion tour for a relic from the grand old 1980’s. In this paper, I’ll be demonstrating how Pythagoras’ proof can be used to successfully accommodate his various fans, but also a 80’s style stage extravaganza, and ensure the fans can get to their now age appropriate rest and recuperation areas.
Good old Huey Lewis, probably not as much of a math fan. But, as noted in “Hip to Be Square”, he did bring to mind some sort of mathematical ideas (likely just that its cool to be outside the norm. I’m not sure he was a fan of math in any manner).
But I think Huey needs to be back in the main spotlight. To do this though, we have to make sure he has an adequate and proportional performing area, that can house his fans with enough room to enjoy the performance from their seats, as well as from the rest area, or the dining area.
I bet Huey Lewis fans nowadays are enjoying the high life, and they might be getting into their golden years, so they need a different concert experience. My layout for the stage is that of a right triangle, with two different length legs for that strange asymmetry that was popular in the 1980’s.
The three areas will be surrounding the stage, so no matter where the fan is, they’ll be able to partake in lasers, key-tars, and feathered hair and/or sunglasses. The rest and food areas should be able to hold the entire audience, proportionally split between them at any time, just in case everyone gets warn out from the performance of “the Power of Love”.
So we’ll lay out the stage and areas just so, so that the area of each of the 2 smaller rest/eating areas added together equals the total capacity for the main seating area. The equation for this is:
A2+B2=C2
If each smaller area is a perfect square, then the combined areas of the two areas will equal the larger seating area.
In our example, we’ll use the dimensions of 6ft on the rest area side of the stage, 8ft on the eating area. This results in:
62+82=C2
36+64=C2
100=C2
√100=√C2
10=C
The stage facing the seating area should be 10ft.
So with the dimensions of the stage figured out, we will next need to determine that each of the smaller capacity areas population would fit into the seating area. Just so if everyone wants to hang out for the finale, there’s enough room.
Using Pythagoreas’ theorem, the sum of both of the smaller areas should equal the area of the larger area (C), given our figured dimensions.
The equation for this would be, again:
A2+B2=C2
Where A2 is the area of the rest section, and B2 is the area of the eating section.
In filling this equation with our variables, we are revisited with the equation we used to determine the length of the hypotenuse of our stage, or side C.
62+82=102
From this, we find that we can fit all of our eaters and resters into our seating area, to enjoy the sweet sounds of “Back in Time”, thanks to the Pythagorean theorem.
Works Cited:
“Experiencing Introductory and Intermediate Algebra, Third Edition” Thomasson.
