I learned about cycling-related Eddington numbers recently.

Your Eddingon number is the largest integer n such that you have ridden at least n kilometers on at least n days (not necessarily consecutively: any days at all).

I wrote some code to find mine.

With data from 2001 to 2024, my Eddington number is 102. (I rode for many years before 2001, so my true number is somewhat (maybe just a little) higher, but records are scarce.)

So, I have ridden at least 102 kilometers on at least 102 days, and I have not ridden at least 103 kilometers on at least 103 days. In fact, I've ridden at least 103 kilometers on 101 days, so I'll need to do that just twice more to get my Eddington number up to 103. Sounds like a nice goal for 2025.

One can also use miles. An amusing thing to note is that you cannot simply convert the Eddington number in kilometers to the Eddington number in miles as you would a distance.

My Eddington number in miles is 68. 68 miles is about 109 kilometers, so my Eddington number in miles is both larger and smaller than my Eddington number in kilometers.

One can, of course, apply this to running, walking, swimming, or really any other quantifiable activity. What would be some interesting activities to apply this to?

One can also restrict the time period and look at one's Eddington number for, for example, single years. In the period 2001-2024, my (km) numbers ranged from 25 to a max of 61. The last time I was at or above 40 was 2017 (I've been in a slump since then).

Let me know if you'd like the (simple) code I wrote to calculate these numbers.

Let me know your Eddington number(s)!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Eddington#Eddington_number_for_cycling

#eddington #cycling #quantification #EddingtonNumber