Emily Sohn exclaims that “when one athlete breaks a time barrier, the notion of what 's possible expands for the next generation” ( ). An athlete can only go break the time barrier for so long until they have reached a certain point at which they cannot continue on, they have reached the limit at infinity. Limits at infinity determines the “y” value as the “x” value approaches infinity, essentially dealing with end behaviors. Limits at infinity can be showed in multiple ways like an individual’s grades, height, and through competitive events such as the Olympics. The Olympics is a great example of limits at infinity because of the variations in sporting events, gender, times or scores, and has been going on since 1896. The men’s and women’s
…show more content…
Seeming to approach a limit of two minutes and 20 seconds based on the data received from Olympic.org. The most drastic decrease in time was during the 1988 Olympics when the winning time improved by 14.3 seconds. The decrease over the years and most drastic decrease are most likely due to the changes in the previous paragraph that affected both women’s and men’s times. Yet, the men have surpassed this time and have a limit that is nearly 20 seconds faster. The article “Assessing Time Trends in Sex Differences in Swimming & Running" explains, “…women seem to be limited to achieving speeds about 8% slower than men’s and that women’s improvement curve lags men’s by about a decade” (Wainer 14). That indeed women seem to be swimming at a slower rate than men. This could be due to the variations between sexes. Each sex seems to have their own private body parts to be calculated into their times, however that does not seem like the biggest sex differences. Howard Wainer noticed that “the biggest sex differences in strength are in the upper body, so we should expect to see larger differences in the vertical offset in swimming than in running because the former uses upper body strength to a greater degree” (15). Women generally have less upper body strength compared to men and are smaller in size. Women’s lack in upper body strength is a contributing fact as to why men have fast swimming times. The variations in upper body strength between women can be a contributing factor to the improvement of women’s times over the years. It is not over for the women because statics analyzed by Duke University suggest that “…women will be running and swimming faster than men within the next few decades” (Wainer 12). The true limit of infinity is still to be discovered for the 200 meter breaststroke because of the fact that women might catch up to the men’s times and soon surpass
Seeming to approach a limit of two minutes and 20 seconds based on the data received from Olympic.org. The most drastic decrease in time was during the 1988 Olympics when the winning time improved by 14.3 seconds. The decrease over the years and most drastic decrease are most likely due to the changes in the previous paragraph that affected both women’s and men’s times. Yet, the men have surpassed this time and have a limit that is nearly 20 seconds faster. The article “Assessing Time Trends in Sex Differences in Swimming & Running" explains, “…women seem to be limited to achieving speeds about 8% slower than men’s and that women’s improvement curve lags men’s by about a decade” (Wainer 14). That indeed women seem to be swimming at a slower rate than men. This could be due to the variations between sexes. Each sex seems to have their own private body parts to be calculated into their times, however that does not seem like the biggest sex differences. Howard Wainer noticed that “the biggest sex differences in strength are in the upper body, so we should expect to see larger differences in the vertical offset in swimming than in running because the former uses upper body strength to a greater degree” (15). Women generally have less upper body strength compared to men and are smaller in size. Women’s lack in upper body strength is a contributing fact as to why men have fast swimming times. The variations in upper body strength between women can be a contributing factor to the improvement of women’s times over the years. It is not over for the women because statics analyzed by Duke University suggest that “…women will be running and swimming faster than men within the next few decades” (Wainer 12). The true limit of infinity is still to be discovered for the 200 meter breaststroke because of the fact that women might catch up to the men’s times and soon surpass