Have We Been Measuring Mountains All Wrong?
September 18, 2025 at 04:30PMWhat makes a mountain truly impressive? Most people will point to Mount Everest, the tallest peak above sea level. But there are other mountains out there that may not win a prize for height, yet still evoke a sense of awe. How, then, do we quantify greatness? For National Geographic, Gordy Megroz explores this question and profiles Kai Xu, a 23-year-old mathematician who devised a method to calculate grandeur. Xu’s formula factors in a mountain’s height above its surroundings and the steepness of its rise, which produces a single number he calls “jut”: a measure of how dramatically a peak thrusts into the sky. You don’t need to be a mathematician or a mountain climber to appreciate this story—it’s unexpected and provocative, encouraging us to see the natural world in a new way. (Subscription required.)
The math is intricate, but the concept is straightforward: Imagine standing right beneath a perfectly vertical 1,000-foot cliff, craning your neck straight up at the summit. From that spot, the viewpoint-impressiveness value would be a straightforward 1,000 feet. But looking at that same summit from farther away, at a 45-degree angle, it would seem less impressive, and the number would shrink accordingly. Meanwhile, a view of the summit from someplace on the mountain might have a steeper angle but so little height as to make the number lower still. The trick is in finding the sweet spot.
And of course, Xu crowned a new most magnificent mountain. When he crunched the numbers, it turned out none of the planet’s five highest peaks above sea level cracked the top five for jut. The world’s actual most impressive summit? Annapurna Fang, a 25,089-foot Himalayan peak with 11,1194 feet of jut—towering over Everest, figuratively speaking, with its measly 7,293 feet.
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2025/09/18/measuring-mountains/
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