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Project Summary
| Difficulty | 4 |
| Time required | Very Short (a day or less) |
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| * Note: This is an abbreviated project idea, without notes to start your background research or a procedure for how to do the experiment. You can identify abbreviated project ideas by the asterisk at the end of the title. If you want a project idea with full instructions, please pick one without an asterisk. |
Abstract
Take shots at a set distance from the basket, but systematically vary the angle to the backboard. For a basic project: How do you think your success rate will vary with angle? Draw a conclusion from your experimental results. A bar graph showing success rate at different angles can help to illustrate your conclusion. For a more advanced project: Use your knowledge of geometry and basketball to come up with a mathematical expression to predict your success rate as a function of angle (measured as a percentage of your success rate with straight-on shots)? How well does your prediction agree with your actual results? (Idea from Goodstein, 1999, 103–105.)Bibliography
Goodstein, M., 1999. Sports Science Projects: The Physics of Balls in Motion. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers.Variations
- For more science project ideas in this area of science, see Sports Science Project Ideas.
Last edit date: 2006-12-26 13:42:28
Career Focus
If you like this project, you might enjoy exploring careers in Sports Science.
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Mathematician Mathematicians are part of an ancient tradition of searching for patterns, conjecturing, and figuring out truths based on rigorous deduction. Some mathematicians focus on purely theoretical problems, with no obvious or immediate applications, except to advance our understanding of mathematics, while others focus on applied mathematics, where they try to solve problems in economics, business, science, physics, or engineering. |
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