Two Mathematicians Created An Equation To Measure Michael Jordan’s Hangtime

Could Michael Jordan really fly?

Two mathematicians, Andy Peterson and Zack Patterson, set out to determine just that using Earth’s gravitational pull as the starting point of their equational explanation:

The height of a falling object above a surface is equal to the object’s initial height from the surface plus its initial velocity, multiplied by how many seconds it has been in the air, plus half of the gravitational acceleration multiplied by the square of the number of seconds spent in the air.

Yeah, but what does all that mean?

Essentially that Michael Jordan’s hangtime is about one second. That’s right – pretty much the same time as your hangtime, 2000 Vince Carter’s hangtime, and your husky next door neighbor’s hangtime.

There’s a little bit more math to it than that, of course. Watch the TED-Ed video below to get the full Michael Jordan hangtime lesson.