"A Three Pipe Problem, I Think Watson"

If I had done a bit more geometry & algebra homework as a spotty kid. I might have made an accident investigator. It is an area that fascinates me. Aircraft accident investigation would be the ultimate. Working out the whys and whats from a tangled heap of wreckage is a real detective story.
The diagram above is the beginning of the process in finding out how far a vehicle travelled after becoming airborne on a rise, or a crest in the road.
Next comes a complicated equation.


These days of course computers can do most of the work, but I have seen it done almost on the back of an envelope.
Rest Area 300m