Math Behind the Ferris Wheel

The next time you decide to drive out to the Amusement Park, make sure you pay the Ferris Wheel a visit. This entertaining ride will make you ponder about how such a colossal moving structure was built. You will realize that the Ferris wheel is much more complex than it seems to be. We, the FST Class, explored, analyzed, and identified the complex mathematical procedures required to build a model of Ferris wheel, calculated the height of the seats within the model aswell as applied the concept of unit circle trigonometry by making a periodic situation. The team, consisting of Judy El-hassan, Abdul Hannan, Mina Samy, Hayoung Lee, Nour Tareq, and I, collaboratively worked and carefully initialized the construction of our Ferris Wheel. In order to make 12 equidistant spokes, we needed a consistent rule to follow. Therefore, we idealized the unit circle and transformed the intervals in terms of pi and marked them on the cardboard carefully. We repeated this for all the 12 spokes to ensure that our Ferris Wheel was error-free. We also remeasured the distance to ensure it was identical.

It takes vital practice, thought, and application to build a perfectly round structure able to withstand constant circular motion and weight of amusement park riders. Behind every structural component in the Ferris wheel is a purpose, and that is what we aimed to portray whilst building our model. We can now safely say that we have successfully constructed a realistic model for the Ferris Wheel and have completely understood the different mathematical applications performed to build such a wonder. Applying mathematics into forms of amusement has never been more intriguing.

 Written by: Mazin Eisa

Edited and Reviewed by Noor Ra’fat (Layout Editor)