Trekky0623

Hi.
I'm working on a warp speed formula in MS Excel and I'm using a formula from Wikipedia:

s(w) = w^10/3 × c

So all I do is make it so whatever is typed in a box is brought up to the power of 10/3. Then that is what is the speed multiplied by c.

So my question is if the USS Voyager is about 75,000 light years from home and is traveling at maximum warp (warp 9.975) to get home then:

warp 9.975 = 2136.53c
c takes 75,000 years to reach destination.
75,000 ÷ 2136.53 = 35.10

They say on Voyager that it would take them 75 years to reach home, but this says it would only take more than half that. Is there something wrong with my calculations?

Trekky0623

An MS Excel file that converts warp factors into multiples of c and km/s. Supports both TNG and TOS. Also supports the w > 9 where speeds start to approach infinity.

Chris

Woah, that's interesting. You made it yourself?

Since you've posted the charts, and we don't encourage direct links to file downloading, I'm going to remove those links from your post.


ETA: I moved your other post over here, since the topics are so similiar.

As to the math ... it's much too late for me to even attempt to think about it.
and it was never one of my stronger subjects.

Kathy_Janeway

Your math is correct, but I think what you've failed to realize is Voyager can't maintain warp 9 or higher for a sustained period of time. It overloads the engines. You also left out alien encounters, fuel shortages, and that sort of stuff. ^^
Very nice graph, great work. But could you explain something for me? ^_^
At warp 9, TOS continues a steady increase rate, allowing for higher warp speeds at a relatively constant exponential increase. But TNG warp speeds fork off at warp 9 and increase at a much slower rate. But....based on the y-axis, this actually means that TNG warp can travel further with less speed...so at warp 9.5 (about) TNG can cover what TOS can cover at 14 or so?

Trekky0623

Yeah, in TOS, the speed rose exponentially by cubes. In TNG, it rose exponentially at 3 1/3, instead of 3 but at Warp 9 Michae Okuda hand drew a curve to have Warp 10 be infinite. So Warp 14 in TOS is the same as Warp 9.5 in TNG.

Kathy_Janeway

Wow. That took a bit of thought. Yet supposing warp 10 was infinite...hmmm...that has a strange impact on speeds that defy warp, such as slipstream technology. It implies that if the ship were to reach warp 10 (or 14 for TOS), it could travel infinity light years.
On that note, is a Voyager graph available anywhere? This is an interesting comparison.
The exponential variances make sense. Perhaps I could make something of that Voyager equation.

Thanks a million for posting these. I've never bothered to consider the mathematics behind the warp theory.

Trekky0623

Note: TOS does not approach infinity, 14 is not the "warp 10" of the age.

In Star Trek: Voyager: Threshold Tom Paris went past warp 10. Then he turned into frogman. Wiki "Threshold".

Kathy_Janeway

haha, how could I have forgotten "Threshold"? That was funny, lol.

mmm...I guess I'm a bit new at TOS. What exactly is their "warp 10" if they have one? In all the episodes I've seen, they tend to travel at warp 4 unless they're in a hurry. But Scotty usually has issues getting Enterprise to warp 8...he can't change the laws of physics....

Would reaching infinity (assuming that's possible for a second) cause dimensional shifts, similar to the mode of time travel the Traveler used in TNG's "Where No One Has Gone Before"? I would think reaching those sorts of speeds might actually distort the space-time continuum...since as Q professes, it is not really a straight line, but something much more complex. Flame me if I'm wrong.

Trekky0623

I don't think TOS would hae a warp 10. On the TNG scale, it just sort of changes after Warp 9. But TOS doesn't do that. Here's a new scale that goes higher so you can see what I mean:

Trekky0623

And TOS will just keep going at the same rate, never reaching "warp 10".

Chris

hehe ... well, it's still going strong in syndication, so maybe warp 10 isn't everything. And as you mentioned, there the whole mutation thing.

Speed definitely has it's advantages, but part of their mandate is to explore. Whizzing past at high warp speeds would mean missing things along the way.

TrekGoddess

Don't forget that in the finale of TNG, Capt. Beverly Picard ordered her ship to go to Warp 13 as somehow they (meaning Starfleet) was able to accomodate for the Infinate Warp 10 Factor.

Horta

This is a good point. The question here is based on Einstein's theory of reletivity. Time-space warps at the speed of light and any object going at that speed increases in gravitational pull. Funny things happen at the speed of light. Did Gene Rodenberry account for time-space dialation? Or did he just increase speeds to equal or faster than light speed like Star Wars?

It is said that when someone travels at light speed they age less than those who stayed home. This in known in science as the twin paradox. So if Captian Kirk goes on his 5 year mission and at the end of his mission comes back to earth. The people he left behind are old while Kirk is still young. Does Star Trek ever account for this? Or again does Star Trek do like Star Wars and simply egnors this. Lucas stated he just used space for an interesting setting for a story with out thinking of the science. You drive in space like you go to the 7/11 store.

Chris

In my opinion, science fiction needs to have a solid plausible foundation in order for us to be willing to accept the leaps of faith demanded to make it interesting. Sure, we can go through and poke holes at things that aren't possible now, but this is meant to be entertainment, not education.

Horta

It appeared to me that everyone else on this thread were speculateing the math. The person I quoted hinted at what I said. So I thought it ok to descuss.