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| X = 3 |
I picked up the hobby of juggling while in high school. I can't remember the precise reason why I wanted to learn to juggle, but my freshman year I was determined to learn how to juggle 3 balls. After a few weeks of going at it, I could juggle, and it felt good. But 3-ball juggling in a simple pattern as shown above is easy-peasy. What makes juggling so interesting is the near limitless possibilities and "tricks". Three ball juggling alone provides a life-time of of entertainment. I was soon deep into a world of learning and experimentation.
After a few years, I was improved but hardly a juggling master. But enough about my juggling past... you are here to find a geocache right? To find this geocache you'll need to learn a learn a little of the juggling notation called
siteswap. Siteswap is a numerical notation used to describe different juggling patterns. For example, the GIF above is 3-3-3, or simply "3" and describes a three ball cascade pattern. If you really want to learn more about how this code works, you can check out this
video. But that's not absolutely necessary. What is necessary is for you to identify the site-swap patterns below to get the numbers you'll need to find the geocache.
First Siteswap
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X-X-X=A-B-C
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Second Siteswap
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| X = D |
Third Siteswap
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| X-X-X = E-F-G |
Fourth Siteswap
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| X-X-X = H-I-J |
Fifth Siteswap
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| X-X-X-X-X = K-L-M-N-O |
For each of the five GIF's above figure out the siteswap notation for the juggling pattern which in turn will give you a number for each letter from A through O. The coordinates are then as follows:
NORTH (B)(A)° (D)(G).(I)(H+J)(C)
WEST (N)(M)(L)° (F)(E).(O-N)(K)(E-K)
A few tips about siteswap:
- Siteswap notation always leads with the highest number. For example 1234 is a valid juggling pattern, but since 4 is the highest throw, you would typically notate it as 4123 (this preserves the order of the numbers, a key function of siteswap notation). Note that this pattern could also be described as 2341 or 3412, but neither of these siteswap notations leads with the highest #. All the GIFs above have siteswap notations leading with the highest digit.
- Not all sequences of numbers are valid siteswap patterns. You can check if a pattern is valid on various websites, including https://www.jugglingedge.com/help/siteswapanimator.php. This site also shows an animation of what that pattern looks like.
