Desire Pathagoras
this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2025
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I don't like that I like this
Invented a whole math thing to justify his desire paths.
This is why some places like Michigan State University and Ohio State University use "desire path planning". That's where they observe where people walk and then install (or move) the sidewalks to match those footpaths.
Not necessarily good though since it further seals the ground. There's nothing wrong with leaving desire paths untouched.
The problem is they would either have to police people from using them, or let grassy areas become bisected by muddy ditches
Is there an issue with muddy bisections? It might not look the most appealing but it's better than pavement.
To prevent the paths from getting ever wider you could, for example, plant flowers next to them. That's a pretty effective and unobtrusive way.
Mud is messy; muddy trails also aren't the most wheelchair-friendly
Mud is messy
It depends. Some people view lawns that aren't devoid of all insect life messy or trimmed evenly messy. And if it is raining or has recently rained, hardly anyone would use a muddy path so the concrete sidewalk will remain reasonably clean as well.
wheelchair-accessible
That's important, though I'm not advocating for keeping an entire campus unpaved. I am arguing that only necessary pathways should be paved while desire paths should ideally remain unpaved. People in wheelchairs should still get around (quickly), but desire paths don't need to be wheelchair accessible in my opinion.
A dirt path, fine and great. Sounds nice for summertime.
Lot of schools aren't in a warm climate.
Those paths become unusable in winter, a muddy (unusable) slop when it rains or when the snow melts.
Muddy paths lead to wet socks and dirty shoes at best, and at worst, you slip and get covered.
Yes, based on college conversations with groundskeepers, students tend to blaze their own trails to create the shortest routes. Besides injuries when they slip and fall in the mud, it also gets tracked into buildings, making those floors slippery as well. Paving popular paths is a way of accommodating human behavior.
I don't think there's an issue with desire paths becoming unusable during certain times though. It slightly extends the time you spend walking around but I'd prefer this over having unnecessary pavement.
You might as well pave the entire green space in this example.
And why would paving the entire green space not be worse than only paving the paths people walk on?
I meant to convey how so much of the existing green space was paved already that paving the entire green space wouldn't be much different at this point.
I would guess the paved paths make up like 20% of the image? That's far too much in my opinion, green space in cities is already severely limited.
You can also see how every time a desire path was paved, new desire paths sprung up - which were then also paved.
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Such an hypoteneusance
I wish I was high on the potenuse
Haha, I wish I was high on the potenuse!
c/yourjoke
https://youtu.be/k1tsGGz-Qw0 just to understand the joke
I like how your reply got more upvotes than BambiDiego’s. It’s like we got to watch the skit play out in real life!
thanks. I just thought the reference to the sub was too good to pass. (r/yourjokewbutworse except it isn't worse it's just the same joke... whatever you can't land em all)
So irrational this guy sometimes...
He's a free spirit
So am I but I still follow the rules!
Considering his life and how he died, normal was never on the table.
Shouldn't that be Cauchy and Schwarz walking together? Since they were actually the ones to generally prove that the absolute value of the sum of two vectors are smaller or equal to the sum of absolute values of each of those vectors separately.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cauchy%E2%80%93Schwarz_inequality
Why, yes, I am fun at parties!
Yes, but you could just name him the "triangle inequality guy" that's note readable :D
Where’s Euclides?
They're just a bunch of squares
I vaguely remember seeing this exact joke in my geometry book in gradeschool. Probably different illustrator, but still.
Damn, I feel old now.
Wow, earlier today I read it as "Why can't this be normal" as in why are people regimented to stay on sidewalks instead of strolling across the grass? It reminded me of a guy I worked with in one of my first jobs, who was told by another coworker that you shouldn't walk on the grass, and he replied, "Yeah you should, because if you weren't supposed to it wouldn't feel so soft and cushy and good on your feet." I liked that guy's attitude.
If I remember right, there's a school that took the worn paths in the grass and just turned those into official walkways.
Yes, that's a fairly common practice.
He's only 45 degrees from being normal whereas they're 90 so...
I hate when people do that. Just stay on the sidewalk, you're going to wear a path down in the grass.
Should've been a path there to begin with, clearly. Bad design
No. No weird hypotenuses. Vertical and horizontal paths only.
Those are desire paths. I love them.
I hate them. It's not a real walkway, it's just people making their own and ruining the grass.