The Bumblebee Myth

[John Musselwhite]

At 12:44 PM 5/9/2000 -0400, Carol wrote:

> > .. and Patrick, since aeronautical engineers cannot, can you prove that
> > bumblee bees fly?  :)

That's actually an urban myth in case anyone is interested... one that 
originated in the 1930s when an aeronautical engineer was out for dinner 
with a biologist who asked about the flight of the bumblebee. The engineer 
did some quick and simple calculations on the back of a napkin based on a 
smooth fixed wing and concluded they couldn't fly. Bee wings, of course, 
move and flex so the calculations he did don't apply. The story of the 
engineer and the biologist was oft-repeated though, until it has reached 
urban myth status.

The moral of this is that simple mathematical models are neither sufficient 
nor appropriate to describe complex actions like the flight of a bumblebee, 
or dare I say it, the sound of a piano.  B-})

                         John

John Musselwhite, RPT    -     Calgary, Alberta Canada
http://www.musselwhite.com  http://canadianpianopage.com/calgary
email: john@musselwhite.com