In the hit HBO series Game of Thrones, dragons are game
changers. During this year’s 35th annual Mathematical
Contest in Modeling, students around the
world were asked to ponder what would really happen if the massive predators
were unleashed on the planet.
A team from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology
completed a 22-page research paper laying out their mathematical model during
the four-day long contest, held in January.
Students were tasked with researching
the literature and TV series in order to come up with variables such as the
caloric intake of an average dragon; their energy expenditures based on the
ambient temperatures of the environment; how much area would be needed to
support three dragons; and what resources would be required to sustain the
dragon-related activities.
For the first part of a dragon’s
life cycle, the team used real world animals such as a blue whale to estimate
the energy consumption of a 10-year-old dragon. But, in the Game of Thrones
series, dragons will continue to grow to fit their available space. “There is a
certain point where we had used the largest mammals in existence, so we had to
start using machines,” says Nicholas Chmielewski, a team member and math major
at SD Mines. The team looked at energy expenditures of a Boeing 747 airplane, the Saturn V rocket and
the Symphony of the Seas (the largest
cruise ship on the planet) to model the energy impact of very large dragons.
Dragons also breathe fire. The team
used a World War II-era flamethrower which can shoot 60-foot flames to model
the energy needed for a 10-year-old dragon. “We could have gone more in-depth
with more time, but we had to sacrifice certain things to fit the competition
timeline,” Chmielewski says.
The team plugged in their variables
and found that if these dragons become the size of the largest cruise ship in
the world, they would consume 13 percent of the United States’ total cattle inventory
annually. Livestock producers in the United States and around the world would
benefit due to a need for an uptick in production. The team concluded that the
existence and survival of three dragons does not have a significant impact on
the United States’ resources. In their paper, the Mines’ team concludes, “The
existence of dragons is sustainable - results of which are fit for a queen.”
“This contest really shows off the creative aspect of mathematics,”
says Kyle Riley, Ph.D., an associate professor in the math department at SD
Mines. “The problems are open-ended and allow students to creatively apply the
mathematics they have learned to solve problems and the problems posed are open
to interpretation. The problem posed this year produces an excellent
illustration on how to assess environmental impact and is open enough to allow
students to approach the problem from a variety of directions.”
This activity is for fun, but it demonstrates how
math can be used to mimic environmental changes and predict outcomes. The math
the students are practicing here has wide-ranging applications, from predicting
the impact of an invasive species such as Asian carp, to understanding the
variables in the reintroduction of a predator species, such as wolves, to an
area they previously roamed.