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Disney's 'Sum of All Thrills' Ride Lets Kids Use Math Skills

by Caleb Johnson on October 15, 2009 at 05:03 PM


Thanks to those imagineers at Walt Disney World, you no longer have to be an engineer to design a theme park ride, or be a nerd to have fun doing math. A new interactive feature, developed by Disney and military contractor Raytheon, and called Sum of All Thrills, opened yesterday at Disney's Epcot park. Both of the parties involved hope it'll teach kids that engineering and math can be fun and useful.

According to The New York Times, visitors to the exhibit use a touchscreen to design a roller coaster, bobsled, or jet ride. While you add head-spinning corkscrews and stomach-churning drops via onscreen tools like rulers and dials, mathematical formulas for velocity and acceleration appear on the screen. When your dream ride is complete, you can even hop into a robotic simulator to experience your custom creation.

If you can't make the trip to Orlando, don't worry. There's an online component, too, at MathMovesU.com. Every time you correctly answer a math question, you're awarded a new piece to help build your simulated ride, which you can then watch in motion on your computer monitor.

With winter coming swiftly, this is good news for all you adrenaline junkies. Rain or shine, hot or cold, the Sum of All Thrills will give you that fix. Plus, it's a way for you nerds to do math without being ridiculed. [From: The New York Times and Raytheon]

Tags: disney, engineering, epcot, kids, learning, math, raytheon, robot, rollercoaster, theme park, ThemePark, top

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