2e:null 2f:["$","title",null,{"children":"The diminishing returns of going faster | Toph Tucker | Observable"}] 34:[] 32:{"id":"3f95fc782781b8cf","slug":"the-diminishing-returns-of-going-faster","title":"The diminishing returns of going faster","thumbnail":"f9ca8256a10b99dacf9d16b38a68398c8658ed93180217f301f99d52bdf01d3e","access_level":"public","create_time":"$D2026-01-22T21:07:10.197Z","update_time":"$D2026-01-27T18:32:18.198Z","view_time":null,"first_public_time":"$D2026-01-27T18:38:30.289Z","has_unpublished_edits":null,"fork":false,"stars":0,"starred":false,"owner":{"type":"team","id":"97290e936c339d8e","login":"tophtucker","name":"Toph Tucker","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/3706c31a8f9c59bb716c022c04b9c073144cd1368b78ac85f49139be6c93c34e","tier":"pro_2026"},"version":151,"publish_version":null,"role":null,"authored":false,"authors":[{"type":"individual","id":"0bb2842b01e0c652","login":"tophtucker","name":"Toph Tucker","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/3706c31a8f9c59bb716c022c04b9c073144cd1368b78ac85f49139be6c93c34e","tier":null}],"members":[{"type":"individual","id":"0bb2842b01e0c652","login":"tophtucker","name":"Toph Tucker","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/3706c31a8f9c59bb716c022c04b9c073144cd1368b78ac85f49139be6c93c34e","tier":null,"role":"editor"},{"type":"team","id":"97290e936c339d8e","login":"tophtucker","name":"Toph Tucker","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/3706c31a8f9c59bb716c022c04b9c073144cd1368b78ac85f49139be6c93c34e","tier":"pro_2026","role":"editor"}],"comments":[],"custom_thumbnail":false,"trashed":false,"lapsed":null,"subscribed":null,"forks":1,"collection":{"id":"ee48d2d87f751f74","slug":"sketches","title":"Sketches","owner":{"id":"97290e936c339d8e","login":"tophtucker","name":"Toph Tucker"}},"type":"notebook","body":{"title":"The diminishing returns of going faster","cells":[{"id":0,"value":"# The diminishing returns of going faster","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":17,"value":"\n ${times.map(({mph1, mph2, miles}) => htl.html`\n \n \n \n \n \n \n `)}\n

Going

${mph2} mph

instead of

${mph1} mph

saves you 1 minute every

${f2(miles, \"mile\")}

","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"html","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":59,"value":"_E.g._, suppose you drive for 1 mile. At 20 mph, it takes 3 minutes; at 30 mph, it takes 2. You’ve saved one minute per mile.\n\nHowever, as Mike points out, kinetic energy is ${tex`{\\frac {1}{2}}mv^{2}`}. So, the faster you go, the more that one more mile per hour adds to your kinetic energy.\n\nI’d say my main lesson from my cross-country drive in 2020 was that speeding saves very little time compared to the time wasted checking your phone at a gas station.\n\n---","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":3,"value":"function distanceToSaveTime(mph1, mph2, minutesSaved) {\n const hoursSaved = minutesSaved / 60;\n const distance = hoursSaved / (1 / mph1 - 1 / mph2);\n return distance;\n}","pinned":true,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":10,"value":"times = d3.range(10, 100, 10).map(mph1 => {\n const mph2 = mph1 + 10;\n const miles = distanceToSaveTime(mph1, mph2, 1);\n return {mph1, mph2, miles}\n})","pinned":true,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":12,"value":"f = d3.format(\".1f\")","pinned":true,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":52,"value":"f2 = (n, unit) => {\n const ignorable = [\"0\", \".\"];\n const str = f(n);\n const chars = [...str];\n let ignore = true;\n const spans = [];\n for (let i = chars.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {\n const char = chars[i];\n const ignoreThis = ignorable.includes(char);\n if (ignore && ignoreThis) {\n // Or should they be gray?\n spans.unshift(htl.html`${char}`);\n } else {\n if (ignore && !ignoreThis) ignore = false;\n spans.unshift(htl.html`${char}`);\n }\n }\n // return spans;\n return htl.html`${spans} ${unit}${Number(str) === 1 ? htl.html`s` : `s`}`;\n}","pinned":true,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":31,"value":"","pinned":true,"hidden":false,"mode":"html","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"}],"files":"$W34","stdlib":"1","titling":"auto"}} 33:"$32:body"