Mathematics Shows that, Yes, a Tiger Can Leap a 12 Foot Wall

February 1, 2008

Using the mathematics of ballistics, two young scientists claim to have demonstrated how that notorious 350-pound Siberian tiger managed to escape from its enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo last December. It then killed a young man and injured two others.

Zoo officials had assured the world that the animal could never have leapt over a 20-foot-wall surrounding a moat. But when an investigation revealed that the wall was actually lower than national standards, Erica Walker (Boston Architectural College) and Raza Syed (Northeastern University) jumped into action.

They decided to answer the question, "Can a tiger overcome an obstacle that is 33-feet away and 12.5 feet tall?" Their solution made use of two-dimensional projectile motion and the mathematics of the "Anti-Aircraft Gunnery Problem" to find the minimum velocity the tiger needed in order to escape.

"From our calculations," they concluded, the tiger had to go a "little over 26 miles per hour to cross the 33-foot moat and clear the 12.5 ft high wall." In fact, the animal would have been able to "attain a maximum speed of 35 miles per hour," they wrote. Thus, the actual dimensions of the enclosure were insufficient to guarantee that this particular tiger couldn't get out.

Walker and Syed's mathematical paper is titled "Tiger Tales: A Critical Examination of the Tiger's Enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo."

Source: News Scientist