Siteswap

"Juggling beat" redirects here. For music, see beat juggling.
Siteswap beats shown as relative height[1][2]

Siteswap, also called quantum juggling or the Cambridge notation, is a numeric juggling notation used to describe or represent juggling patterns. The term may also be used to describe siteswap patterns, possible patterns transcribed using siteswap. Throws are represented by non-negative integers that specify the number of beats in the future when the object is thrown again: "The idea behind siteswap is to keep track of the order that balls are thrown and caught, and only that."[3] It is an invaluable tool in determining which combinations of throws yield valid juggling patterns for a given number of objects, and has led to previously unknown patterns (such as 441). However, it does not describe body movements such as behind-the-back and under-the-leg. Siteswap assumes that "throws happen on beats that are equally spaced in time."[4]

For example, a three-ball cascade may be notated "3 ", while a shower may be notated "5 1".[4]

  1. ^ Donahue, Bill (December 3, 2004). "The Mathematics of... Juggling". Discover Magazine. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  2. ^ Tiemann, Bruce and Magnusson, Bengt (1991). "A Notation for Juggling Tricks, A LOT of Juggling Tricks", Juggle.org. Accessed July 8, 2014. original url
  3. ^ Knutson, Allen. "Siteswap FAQ". Juggling.org. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  4. ^ a b Beek, Peter J.; Lewbel, Arthur (November 1995). "The Science of Juggling" (PDF). Scientific American. 273 (5): 92–97. Bibcode:1995SciAm.273e..92B. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1195-92. ISSN 0036-8733. JSTOR 24982089. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016.