A Walk in the Park
By:
Axel Knauf
Posted:
A Walk in the Park
Scenario
Ever wondered why you run into so many people when going for a walk in the park? Me, too. What struck me as remarkable was that I would not only encounter a lot of individuals, but the number of 'collisions' with more than one other pedestrians at the same time! So I thought I'll try to simulate a walk in the park and see what the numbers say.
Simulation
Here you go:
- Simulation: https://box.axelknauf.de/~axel/walking.html
- Source: https://box.axelknauf.de/~axel/walking.js
(Please don't judge me for the code quality, it has just been hacked together for the fun of it.)
Results
- Over the course of a 5km walk with ~70 other pedestrians, I would:
- have around 50 encounters with individuals
- have around 10 encounters with more than one other person at the same time!