A Dizzying World Record

by Laura Overdeck

Can you spin around once? Good. Can you spin around 3 times? Great! Now, can you spin around 3 times on a skateboard in midair? Well, so far only 4 people on Earth have done that. At age 11, Gui Khury pulled off a 1,080-degree spin (360 degrees is 1 full circle, so 3 full spins = 360 + 360 + 360 = 1,080). A few people have done this before on a super big ramp, but none on the plain old halfpipe. So Gui must have been feeling pretty happy – and maybe a little dizzy, too.

Wee ones: Can you spin 3 times to your left, then 3 times to your right? Count as you spin!

Little kids: If you spin on your skateboard 3 full times to the right, then 2 times to the left, then another 3 spins to the right, how many spins is all that? Bonus: If you want to do an even number of spins and you’ve already spun 8 times, should you do 1 or 2 more 3-spin tricks?

Big kids: The old record on this type of ramp was a 900-degree spin. How many more degrees are in the 1,080-degree spin? Bonus: How many full spins did the 900-degree trick include?

Answers:

Wee ones: Count up the spins: 1, 2, 3 to the left, 1, 2, 3, to the right!

Little kids: 8 spins: 3 + 2 + 3. Bonus: 2 more, because adding 3 spins to 8 would give you 10. Adding an odd number to an even number will always give you an odd sum!

Big kids: 180 more degrees. You can do straight subtraction, or “count up” from 900: 100 to reach 1,000 + 80 to reach 1,080. Bonus: Just 2 full spins, because 360 x 2 is 720, the largest number of 360s you can fit in 900. The 3rd full spin takes you to 1,080.

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