You remember the particular driving lessons when you had to exercise you parallel parking. It seemed easy, cause the teacher was beside you…or at least his feet were there for support. And it didn’t matter if you didn’t do it perfectly parallel, if you scratched the car a bit or if it took you 10-20 moves to finally get the car in a sort-of-parking position. But what happens when you get you own car and you can’t afford getting it scrathed or parking it 2 feet away from the sidewalk? Thinking of these and after watching women parking, and even men parking (c’mon, don’t be misogynists), mathematician Simon Blackburn, from the University of London, came up with…this: Minimum space needed=length of car + √[(r²-I²)+(I+k)²-(√(r²-I²)-w)²]-I-k.

You may sit, whipe the sweat on your forehead, take a pen and a paper and start calculating!

r = Your car’s turning radius.
l = The distance between the front and rear wheels.
k = The distance from your front wheel to the corner of the front bumper.
w = The width of the car you’re trying to park behind.

I’ll now see who had a disgust in Math! For additional help, check the photos below. Hint: you should practice it a lot at home, for when you finally find a tiny place to squeeze your car, other will come and take your place while you add, devide, erase, re-add etc.

Or simply watch and learn: Perfect parking.

Extra-tip: DO click all the links in this post. They will make your day!!!