Eddington number for cycling
Eddington is credited with devising a measure of a
cyclist's long-distance riding achievements. The Eddington number in the context of cycling is defined as the maximum number E such that the cyclist has cycled E miles on E days.
[18][19] For example, an Eddington number of 70 would imply that the cyclist has cycled at least 70 miles in a day on 70 occasions. Achieving a high Eddington number is difficult since moving from, say, 70 to 75 will probably require more than five new long distance rides since any rides shorter than 75 miles will no longer be included in the reckoning. Eddington's own E-number was 84.
[20]
The Eddington number for cycling is analogous to the
h-index that quantifies both the actual scientific productivity and the apparent scientific impact of a scientist.
It should be noted that the Eddington Number for cycling has units (indeed applying it to any physical property will result in E having units). For example, an E of 62 miles means a cyclist has covered 62 or more miles on 62 or more days. However, in units of kilometers the 62 miles becomes 100 km. It is possible that the cyclist, while having covered 100 km on 62 days or more, may
not have covered 100 km on 100 days or more. Thus the order of bicyclists may change depending on units used. Using the original miles, one cyclist may have an Eddington number of 60 – 60 miles (97 km) in 60 days, another of 50 (corresponding to 80 km). However, the latter may be a regular on a distance like this and get a km-Eddington of 80, while the former only had those 60 days riding, and thus stays at a km-Eddington of 60
