mathematical exploration write up

research question/aim: adapt the formation of the optimal starting block dive to achieve the best
distance from take off

rationale: as a competitive swimmer myself, i would like to use this theoretical investigation to aid
me in practically apply it in training and eventually racing, hopefully benefitting future competitions
and race times.

math connections(syllabus topics): kinematics/rates of change(differential calculus), integration,

functions/graphs, pythagoras

steps to take to answer research question:

1. research male olympic start(michael phelps), female olympic start(katie ledecky), analyse start
(speed, distance, parabola jump)- try to look at more than one example in order to find an
average- also talk about height and mass of genders
2. research different types of stances on the block, and the different distances they reach- try to
find an optimal push off and stance
3. research knee angle on force production, and how it affects the angle of the dive(entrance to
water), and therefore the power produced
4. look at combinations of different entrances and the parabolas they create
5. how can these measurements help me to create the perfect dive for myself?
6. conclude
potential visual representations to support the research: diagrams to show dive process,
labelled mathematical annotations, graphs investigating kinematical parabolas/rate of change,
tables of comparison
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The Optimal Olympic Starting Block Dive

It’s race day. I’m well prepared for this race as the official calls me for my event. I
put my goggles on and step onto the blocks. As the starter calls “take your
marks”, I bend down into the starting position.
… “take your marks…Beep”
I take off, with a powerful dive into the water, neat , clean, and streamlined. There
is just enough resistance in the water so that with a few powerful kicks, I propel
to the surface and break through the water.

A powerful start is a major component to getting ahead in the swim race.

Importance of the Race Dive and Start

The swimming start is highly linked to the overall performance during
competition. Previous Olympic statistics show that a start can contribute various
percentages of the total race time, depending on the race distance. This means
that the distance made by the dive is often a key technical advantage to win-
often differences of even fractions of a second. To me, a swimming start is
composed of two main phases, the position on the block, and the flight of the
dive, until the swimmer fully enters the water (fingertips, head, then torso, then
feet). After the dive, swimmers usually transition submerge in swimming
underwater for 10 meters of underwater kick. In total, the start lasts about 15
meters of the race.

There are 6 different distances available for competitive racing in swimming.

50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m

To really highlight the importance of a good start, my first task is to find out how
much the start and dive are really worth (distance wise) in a race.

Table showing the relationship between the distance of the race to the
percentage of the dive and start (presuming that the dive is 5 meters, and the
start is 15 meters):

Race Length (m) Percentage of Dive (%) Percentage of Start (%)

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50 10% 30%

100 5% 15%

200 2.5% 7.5%

400 1.25% 3.75%

800 0.625% 1.875%

1500 0.3% 1%

- to find the percentage that the dive covers in the race, I divided 5 by ‘race
length’. (eg. 5/50 = 0.1, 10%)
- to find the percentage that the start is worth in the race, I divided 15 by ‘race
length’. (eg. 15/50 = 0.3, 30%)

In order to more clearly see the relationship between the race length, and the
how the distance the dive and start contribute to the race, I decided to graph my
table of results:

Dive % (m) Start % (m)

30

22.5

15

7.5

0
50 100 200 400 800 1500

The x axis shows the distance of each race (m)

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The y axis shows the percentage that either the dive or the start takes up in
relationship to the distance of the race (%)
From this graph, we can see that the the shorter the distance, the more
significant a well formulated start is to the race. This is strongly linked to the
negative correlation of both graphs because the longer the distance, the less
relevant the dive and start are.
The dive compared to the start is of shorter distance, therefore the starting
percentage and the rest of the consecutive values is shown with a curve of a
smaller degree.
Therefore, through this graph, we can see that the dive and the start is
significantly important for shorter distance races. For a 50 meter race, the dive
already takes up 10% of the race, and the start, 30%, almost 1/3 of the whole
race, proving that the race start, and predominantly the initial and most important
part of the start, the dive.

A famous example emphasising the importance of a powerful and accurate dive

was during the women’s 50 meter freestyle final in the 2008 Olympic Games.
Only 0.01 second separated first and second place. 0.71 seconds separated the
total times of the eight finalists.

The 3 most important aspects of an optimal dive would be

1. further distance
2. small angle of entrance
3. faster speed of entrance

This is why as a competitive swimmer myself, I would like to use this theoretical
investigation to aid me to practically apply my findings in training and eventually
racing, hopefully benefitting future competitions and race times.

Using the track start. Why?

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There are two types of starts: the grab start, and the track start. The only
difference between them is the foot placement on the block. In the grab start,
both feet are placed at the front of the block, with toes curled over the front of the
block. In the track start, one foot is placed near the rear of the block, and the
dominant foot is placed at the front, with toes curled over the edge.

I have decided to investigate using the track start. I came to this decision through personal
experience and watching a series of racing videos from the Olympic and Commonwealth
games. I noticed that the majority of the swimmers utilised the track start, and this seemed
to be a reoccurring and popular for most elite competitive swimmers. I also realised that I
also used this type of dive naturally, when competitively racing, and never questioned why.

As a form of first- hand research resource, I decided to ask my coach why this was.
He explained to me that the track start is the most popular and widely effective form of
start compared to the grab start because of the stance on the block. The track stance
allows the swimmer to stand on the block with feet apart, and shift the weight back on forth
on the block to produce momentum during the dive movement. To achieve the maximum
velocity from the start block, swimmers want to keep the centre of gravity closest to the
water as possible, without falling off the blocks. When the starting signal is given, the
swimmer shifts its weight from the back leg to the front leg quickly, in order to create more
power as they dive off with both feet through an unbalanced momentum, creating more
power in the dive. The grab start does not allow the swimmer to do so, as initially, the
swimmer starts off with both feet at the front of the block and is not given the opportunity to
create this kind of power through shifting momentum.

Through all this information given to me, I would like to find out using the track start, the
optimum distance, entrance angle and velocity a swimmer needs to achieve to create a
perfect dive.

Investigating a model of the track dive flight path

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To get a better idea of the track start’s flight path, I wanted to model a typical flight path of
a dive in action. I came across this image on the internet of a track dive:

This track dive was performed by an Olympic athlete at the Australian Institute of Sport.
This is especially helpful as it is a static stop motion overlay image, which enables me to
clearer see the pathway of the dive.

However, the pathway of the dive was hard to visualise in the image due to the body’s
linear form. I inserted the image into desmos.com, and plotted points, according to the
body’s alignment. Like so:

Seeing that the coordinates were in alignment, I transferred these values onto a table, to
see the coordinates linked and in relation with each other, overlaying the diving image.
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The way the coordinates interlinked gave me a better insight into the core shape of the
dive, and I noticed the negativity of the graph. I initially saw the dive in the image as a
negative linear form, however the interlinking of the coordinates allowed me to see that the
dive had a slight curve, and that the start of the dive may be close to the vertex of the
graph.
At this stage, the graph didn’t show a smooth arrangement I had hoped to see when I
connected the coordinates; the path was rigid, and an even projection wasn’t clear.
This meant formulating an equation. Because I could see that the start of the dive was
close to the maximum of the graph, I knew that (also because of gravitational
components), the graph had a negative quadratic function form (negative parabola).
Therefore, the graph must have the standard form of:
y=ax²+bx+c
with the graph intersecting at the y axis at (0,c).
In order to figure out the shape of the parabola, I utilised quadratic regression to figure out
the curve of the dive, in context of the parabola.

Solving the quadratic regression by hand:

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y=ax²+bx+c, where a≠0
1. I took 3 coordinates from the plotted pathway, which contributed in forming the curved
shape of the graph. In this case, I utilised coordinates (0,4), (4,2.75), and (8,0.5)

2. I substituted each these coordinates once into the quadratic formula, forming 3
equations:
(a×0²)+(b×0)+c=4…(1)
(a×4²)+(b×4)+c=2.75…(2)
(a×8²)+(b×8)+c=0.5…(3)

3. I simplified these equations to get 3 equations that are much more comprehensible and
useful to forming the final parabola equation.
c=4…(1)
16a+4b+c=2.75…(2)
64a+8b+c=0.5…(3)
These equations all contribute to finding the value of a, b, and c in the final equation.
This means that in order to find values a, b, and c, simultaneous equation is required.
4. Firstly, I used substitution to simultaneously solve (1) and (2). Substitution is used
because the value of ‘c’ is already found.
∵c=4,
16a+4b+4=2.75
16a+4b=2.75-4
16a+4b=-1.25…(2)
5. Next, I repeated the same process, by substituting (1) into (3), to exterminate the ‘c’
variable, since the value is already known.
∵c=4,
64a+8b+4=0.5
64a+8b=0.5-4
64a+8b=-3.5…(3)
6. Then I simultaneously solved the substituted versions of equations (2) and (3) to solve
for the value of ‘b’
16a+4b=-1.25...(2)
64a+8b=-3.5…(3)

multiply (2) by -4
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∴-64a+16b=5
64a+8b=-3.5

24b=1.5
∴b=0.0625
7. Lastly, to find ‘a’, I substituted the values of ‘b’ and ‘c’ into (3)
64a+0.5+4=0.5
64a=-4
∴a=-0.0625

The last step is to substitute all values of a, b, c into the quadratic equation, giving me the
quadratic equation of:
y=-0.0625x²+0.0625x+4

I inserted this equation onto desmos.com, and it presented a fitting parabola part of which
presented the curve of the dive. From the curve presented on the dive, I noticed that the
initial velocity of the dive was mostly due to muscle produced force, and the latter of the
dive was affected quite majorly by gravitational pull.

As I had predicted, the vertex of the parabola was very close to the starting point of the
dive I had plotted (on the y axis). The vertex of the parabola was within the region of the
swimmer’s centre of mass in the starting position.
 mathematical exploration write up

Because the vertex was as predicted, within the centre of mass of the diver’s starting
position, this allowed to further investigation of the swimmer’s horizontal displacement.
By graphing the quadratic function in the calculator, I found the x-intercepts of the graph,
which in this case, is
(-7.95, 0), and (8.52,0)
The domain of the actual dive path is: 0≤ x ≤8.5

Therefore, the horizontal placement of the actual dive must be 8.52 units.
However, this horizontal placement is calculated according to the graph, which is not to
scale. I wanted to come up with a measurement as close to real life as possible, however I
knew nothing about the scale or size of the graph in this photo.
So I thought to myself: what are the constant variables in this image? Could there be a
factor that is measurable, so I could adjust and scale it to find the most realistically
accurate measurements of this dive?
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Through further research, I came across the official FINA (federation internationale de
natation) requirements for competition pools. One of the requirements were:
“The height of the platform above the water surface shall be from 0.5 metre to 0.75 metre.”
(https://www.fina.org/sites/default/files/finafacilities_rules.pdf)
I decided to use the mean of 0.5 and 0.75 as an approximate height to scale the
measurements.
0.5+0.75=1.25
1.25÷2=0.625m

The unscaled image on the graph (through measuring from the y-axis) shows the height of
the platform to be approximately 2m. The actual height is 0.625m.
The unscaled image on the graph shows the horizontal displacement to be 8.52m, but the
actual distance is unknown.
∴2 : 8.52
0.625 : z
To find the actual horizontal displacement, z,
8.52÷2=4.26
∴z=0.625×4.26
=2.66m (3sf)

Through the graph, I was also able to find the angle of entrance of the swimmer using
trigonometry:
tanθ=4÷8.52
=0.469
θ=tan⁻¹(0.469)
θ=25.1°
This is quite an ideal entrance for a swimmer, as the degree of entrance is very acute,
therefore the gravitational momentum is not as strong, and the swimmer will more quickly
recover from the underwater phase affected by gravity, and begin the underwater kick
process.

At this point, I had analysed the photo in depth enough to find the values of the horizontal
displacement, angle of entrance, and the shape of that certain swimmer’s dive. These are
were important components to finding the optimum dive. And through the information
above, I have gathered through observing and calculations a clearer insight into the form
 mathematical exploration write up
and different components of the dive. However, I realised that I can not prove from
analysing one image that the dive in that image is the ‘perfect dive’, and neither will I be
able to prove the perfect dive is even from analysing several photos. This is because it is
impossible to find a swimmer’s exact height, weight, and ability to produce power just from
looking at a photo of them. Therefore, it is hard to find which swimmer just from analysing
their dive angle, has the optimum speed, distance and water entry angle just by analysing
data.

Finding a balance
It is proven that 45 degrees provides with the largest launch angle. This is because The
sine function reaches its largest output value, 1, with an input angle of 90 degrees, so we
can see that for the longest-range projects at 2θ = 90 degrees and, therefore, θ = 45
degrees. A projectile, in other words, travels the farthest when it is launched at an angle
of 45 degrees.

However, a launch at 45 degrees means that even if the distance travelled is far when the
object lands due to gravity, the landing angle is large. This is not ideal for swimming
because firstly, a 45 degree launch requires too much power exertion in the dive, which is
too much a waste of energy for a small component of the race. It also means that the
swimmer spends too much time in flight, which wastes their time in water, as swimming is
the major component of the race. It is also not ideal because launching at 45 degrees
means a steep landing, and the swimmer would most likely waste time underwater due to
gravitational momentum when they enter the water.

Therefore, it is important to find a balance between the distance, and the entrance angle,
which will eventually affect the speed of the dive.
 mathematical exploration write up

I have drawn this diagram showing the different components of a typical (track) dive.
here, ‘h’ is a constant, because it is the stable height of the diving block, and ‘vᵢ’ is different
for everyone, because the mass of everyone different, and therefore the power exerted is
different.

Projectile motion of a dive

∵distance (S)=Vₒt + 1/2at², g=gravitational acceleration at 9.8 m/s/s

-h=Vᵢsinθt - 1/2gt²… (1) [vertical displacement]

d=Vᵢcosθt… (2) [horizontal displacement]

(2) can be converted into

t=d÷(Vᵢcosθ) [time]
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substitute [time] into (1)

-h=Vᵢsinθ(d÷Vᵢcosθ) - 1/2g(d²÷v²cos²θ)

‘Vᵢ’ can be cancelled out to form the equation

-h=d(tanθ) - (gd²÷2v²cos²θ)

STEPS LEFT TO COMPLETE:

-> check validity of projectile motion formula I attempted to put together
-> finish solving formula
-> apply to model of own dive
-> conclusion
-> cite sources APA format and integrate sourcing
 mathematical exploration write up

Maths IA Research Process

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bsr8QvaaGso

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187770581201750X

http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/dive-starts

https://byjus.com/projectile-motion-formula

https://www.desmos.com/calculator

https://www.fina.org/sites/default/files/finafacilities_rules.pdf

file:///Users/norazhang/Downloads/3861-9695-1-PB%20(2).pdf

https://ac.els-cdn.com/S187770581201750X/1-s2.0-S187770581201750X-
main.pdf?
_tid=34aa622d-86e4-4211-86bb-285607dc929a&acdnat=1521878283_0f95123e
ee248fe21e11d0e938794ae2

https://theconversation.com/take-your-marks-the-science-behind-the-perfect-
swimming-dive-29392

https://umanitoba.ca/faculties/kinrec/hlhpri/media/swimming_starts_checklist.pdf
mathematical exploration write up