Category: Christmas tree

Christmas tree throwing world championships, ‘Knut-Fest,’ held in Germany

On By A.P.In Christmas, Christmas tree, Christmas tree throwing contest, Germany, Knut-FestLeave a comment

Now that the festive period is over and the decorations have come down, most households have opted to recycle their old Christmas trees.

But people in the town of Weidenthal in southern Germany have come up with a much more imaginative way of getting rid of them – by holding the world Christmas tree throwing championships.

The idea behind “Knut-Fest,'” as it is known to locals, is to dispense with the Christmas festivities whilst welcoming in the New Year.

Competitors are asked to bring along their old trees, stripped of lights and other decorations, and see how far they can throw them.

There are three disciplines in the competition; Weitwurf (javelin-style), Hammerwurf (hammer-style) and Hochwurf (high jump-style) throwing.

The overall winner is decided by the total distance achieved over the course of the day.

Frank Schwender, 48, from the nearby town of Frankeneck won the tournament for an unprecedented third consecutive year.

He retained his title with a total distance of 22.45 metres over the three throwing disciplines.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/weirdnewsvideo/9788401/Christmas-tree-throwing-world-championships-held-in-Germany.html

Treegonometry uses math to perfectly decorate a Christmas tree

On By A.P.In Alex Craig, Christmas, Christmas tree, Debenhams department store, Great Britain, Math, Nicole Wrightham, Treegonometry, University of SheffieldLeave a comment

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Mathematicians from Great Britain’s University of Sheffield have developed a formula to perfectly decorate any Christmas tree called Treegonometry.

Sheffield students Nicole Wrightham and Alex Craig created the formula to perfectly decorate a tree as part of a challenge put out by the Debenhams department store. The calculations will tell you exactly how many meters of lights and how much tinsel you should use, as well as the height of the angel or star that should go on top of the tree.

The formulas are as follows:

•Number of baubles: Take the square root of 17, divide it by 20 and multiply it by the height of tree (in centimetres).
•Length of tinsel: 13 multiplied by Pi (3.1415) divided by 8, then multiplied by tree height.
•Length of tree lights: Pi multiplied by tree height
•Height (in centimetres) of star or fairy on top of tree: Tree height divided by 10.
If you want to skip the math, the pair of students also put out a calculator that will compute it all for you simply by the tree’s height. For example, a tree that’s 140 centimeters (55 inches) tall would need 29 baubles, 715 centimeters (281.5 inches) of tinsel, 440 centimeters (173.2 inches) of lights, and a 14-centimeter (5.5-inch) decoration on top.

http://www.techhive.com/article/2018984/treegonometry-uses-math-to-perfectly-decorate-a-christmas-tree.html