Structural Engineering & Statics
where the load goes
Ladder

Funicular — the ladder

2 distinct arguments against one idea, from the one that introduces it to the one that assumes the rest.
  1. cable: pure tensionreflected herearch: pure compression

    The shape that carries itself, and the arch that is its reflection

    Hang a chain and it takes the one shape that carries its load in pure tension. Turn the shape upside down and it carries the same load in pure compression. That is what an arch is.

    rung 1 · structures
  2. 10148126H = 27.9, the same at every stationeach vertex is a load; each slope is the running vertical sum ÷ H

    The polygon that finds the shape

    A hanging string under five loads has no smooth curve in it — it has five vertices and six straight segments, and every slope in it is a running sum divided by one number.

    rung 2 · structures

All ladders