Giant Human Parabola Across Manhattan Plotted By Math Museum

NEW YORK, NY — In an unusual weekend event, a mathematically-oriented museum in Manhattan plans to create the world's largest human parabola across the borough — and anyone can become part of it by making a few clicks and venturing out onto the street.

The free event, dubbed a "MathHappening," is hosted by the National Museum of Mathematics. Running from 6 a.m. Saturday through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, the event invites anyone in Manhattan to come put themselves in the path of the giant, U-shaped curve.

Parabolas are mathematical curves that form on planes with a horizontal and vertical axis. Common subjects of study in high school math classes, they resemble the curves followed by objects falling back to Earth.

People who register online will receive instructions and a link to the map that shows the parabolic curve's path through Manhattan, winding through landmarks like Grand Central Terminal, Penn Station, Lincoln Center, Columbia University's Low Library, and Inwood Hill Park.

Users will get to see a blue dot marking their current location and distance to the parabola. Once inside the parabola, the dot will lock in as a point on the curve, and participants can mark their location with a virtual pin — adding a dot that will appear publicly on the map.

"As the weather gets warmer and the City begins to reopen, MoMath is celebrating the recovery of New York by bringing people — and mathematics — back to the streets," said Cindy Lawrence, the museum's CEO and executive director, in a news release.

Learn more about the "Graph the Grid" event here, and register for free here.

MoMath, which opened in 2012 in NoMad, bills itself as the only math museum in North America.