

Nadra NittleĪn efficiently decorated tree might even help cut down on electricity costs. This is another unique feature of a conical helix it gives us excellent uniformity. Do they look uniformly distributed from that point of view? Perfect! That’s what we’re aiming for. The best way to check it is to look at a Christmas tree from the top so you can see every single ornament on it. One of the aesthetic factors that please most people is uniformity. Using the conical helix pattern, it’s helpful to look at a Christmas tree from the top while decorating it. The curve formed by the ribbon is a conical helix. Then start wrapping it around the cone, moving downwards until you reach the base. So what does the conical helix have in common with a cone? Imagine you’ve got a ribbon that you attach to the top of a cone. We surely can all agree that when we look at the Christmas tree, its shape reminds us of a cone, a pyramid with a circular base. Can you describe how this pattern works in more detail? Dominik Czernia The conical helix is the key to the calculator. The best thing about it is the simplicity - all you need to enter are your tree’s dimensions. Henderson’s formula, we developed our intuitive tool with visualization of your perfect tree with lights and baubles. To our surprise, it was impossible for us to make at least some rough estimations.


We had been wondering how many lights and ornaments make a Christmas tree so beautiful. Who knew that decorating a Christmas tree even stumps physicists? What prompted you all to develop a web tool that could simplify this process for everyone? Dominik Czernia The Omni Calculator can help you figure out how many lights your Christmas tree needs. So who’s most likely to use a Christmas tree calculator? Is it designed for the math-and-science crowd or for anyone who wants a perfectly decorated tree? I interviewed Czernia and Omni Calculator Project founder Mateusz Mucha about the tool. To use it, you’ll need to know some basic information, such as your tree’s height and bottom diameter, the length and spacing of the light strands, and the diameter of the ornaments you plan to use.
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The free calculator factors in tree lights and ornaments and provides users with step-by-step computation and visualization. They feature their approach on a web tool called the Omni Calculator.

Henderson has made his Christmas tree light-spacing formula available to the public, and Dominik Czernia and Álvaro Díez, physics doctoral candidates studying in Poland and Turkey, respectively, have expanded on the mathematician’s work. This ensures that if we begin wrapping the lights in a conical helix pattern beginning at the bottom of the tree and vertically space the lights by about 7 inches between successive rotations, the strands of lights will terminate precisely at the top of the tree.” When using 75 feet of lights, the vertical spacing between rotations is about 7 inches. “Our Christmas tree is 3½ feet wide at its base and 8 feet tall. By thinking of a holiday evergreen as an inverted cone, Henderson used the mathematical concept known as the conical helix to determine the right number of lights for his tree. Last year, he developed what he describes as a hack to perfectly light a Christmas tree. It’s even given headaches to mathematicians like Troy Henderson, a professor at the University of Mobile’s College of Arts and Sciences in Alabama. Since there’s no consensus about just how many lights is right, trimming a tree can be daunting for novice decorators. And Real Simple suggests 100 lights for every foot. But Better Homes & Gardens recommends using three 100-light sets for every foot of a tree’s height. “A good rule of thumb is 100 lights for every foot-and-a-half of tree,” according to Lowe’s. This question gets asked so often during the holidays that everyone from retailers like Lowe’s to publications like Real Simple and Better Homes & Gardens have tried to answer it. How many lights should go on a Christmas tree?
