It is often quoted in the media that sportsman will have to give more than 100% to win . Is this theoretically possible?
The sportsman in question will first have to reach 100% saturation at a higher temperature and then cool down to a lower temperature. If he remains undisturbed during the cool-down process, he will become supersaturated and will be liable to giving out more than 100% for the new temperature if you sprinkle salt on him or give him a good hard poke. It’s kind of messy, though–I wouldn’t recommend it.
Well, the unkindest conclusion would be that sports announcers and coaches are not mathematically gifted. But if you want to be charitable, you can think of it as giving more than 100% of safe rated capacity. Sort of like clock-chipping a computer or red-lining an engine. You get more performance, but you decrease the mean time between failures. Think John Henry vs. the steam hammer.
It is really just a matter of definition. If a person is able to put up a given effort in a contest, then it must be at or below 100% of capability right?
However, we can use an analogy of a jet fighter’s engines. If a pilot is in a dogfight, he can crank up the engines to 100% throttle. You might think that there is no more power, but if needed, he can throw on the afterburners for short bursts of power. The instruments will indicate that he is at say 110% of power during that brief period. However, this extra power is only available for very short periods of time. It is not considered “normal” power and thus not calculated as being within the normal operating parameters of an aircraft.
A similar situation can happen with an athlete in a critical point in a game. An extreme short-term effort may be available but not at all typical because it stresses the body, increases the risk of injury, and causes lasting fatigue so it is not available under most circumstances. A quick jolt of adrenaline can also cause super-typical performance for short periods. These short term boosts are still temporary however.
When you think you are giving everything you have, dig a little deeper.
[sup]Coaches are dealing with human beings not calculus.[/sup]
And here I thought this was a question about Hypothetical Future Value Accounting.
You can do it with Negative Amortization.