Siteswap

In juggling, siteswap (also called Cambridge notation in the United Kingdom) is a notation used to describe basic toss juggling patterns. It encodes the height of each throw and the hand to which the throw is to be made; it does not describe body movements such as behind-the-back and under-the-leg. The notation was developed in 1985 independently by three people: Bruce "Boppo" Tiemann at the California Institute of Technology, Paul Klimek in Santa Cruz, and Mike Day, Colin Wright, and Adam Chalcraft in Cambridge (whence the alternative name).

Vanilla siteswap

Its simplest form, sometimes called vanilla siteswap, describes only patterns whose throws alternate hands and in which one ball is thrown at a time. Each basic juggling pattern is described by a sequence of numbers which denote the height of the throw to be made. Throws alternate hands. Odd-numbered throws send the ball to the other hand, while even-numbered throws send the ball to the same hand. A 3 represents a throw to the opposite hand at the height of the basic three-cascade; a 4 represents a throw to the same hand at the height of the four-fountain, and so on. There are three special throws: a 0 is a pause with an empty hand, a 1 is a quick pass straight across to the other hand, and a 2 is a momentary hold of an object. Throws higher than height 9 are given letters starting with a. Each pattern repeats after a certain number of throws, called the period of the pattern. The pattern is named after the shortest non-repeating segment of the sequence. The number of balls used for the pattern is the average of the digits of the name of the pattern. For example 441 is a three-object pattern because (4+4+1)/3 is 3, and 86 is a seven-object pattern. All patterns must therefore have a siteswap sequence that averages to an integer. Not all such sequences describe patterns as there is an additional constraint that no two objects may land at the same time.

Synchronous siteswap

Siteswap notation can be extended to denote patterns containing synchronous throws from both hands. The numbers for the two throws are combined in parentheses and separated by a comma. Only even numbers are allowed, so throws that move to the other hand are marked by an x. Thus a synchronous three-prop shower is denoted (4x,2x), meaning one hand continually throws a low throw to the opposite hand, while the other continually throws a higher throw to the first. Sequences of bracketted pairs are written without delimitting markers.

Multiplexing

A further extension allows siteswap to notate patterns involving multiple throws from either or both hands at the same time in a multiplex pattern. The numbers for multiple throws from a single hand are written together inside square brackets. There are many computer programs available which simulate siteswap patterns.

External links

 

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