Eddington has his own Wiki entry. A scientist who, IIRC, worked at Bletchly Park during the war. A keen cyclist, he worked out the distances he'd cycled using a Map! Excerpted from his Wiki entry below, we can see where the idea came from. A 'Real' Eddington no is Imperial Miles. I believe the concept has no traction on the continent.
Eddington number for cycling[edit]
Eddington is credited with devising a measure of a
cyclist's long-distance riding achievements. The Eddington number in the context of cycling is defined as the maximum number E such that the cyclist has cycled at least E miles on at least E days.
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For example, an Eddington number of 70 would imply that the cyclist has cycled at least 70 miles in a day on at least 70 occasions. Achieving a high Eddington number is difficult, since moving from, say, 70 to 75 will (probably) require more than five new long-distance rides, since any rides shorter than 75 miles will no longer be included in the reckoning. Eddington's own life-time E-number was 84.
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The Eddington number for cycling is analogous to the
h-index that quantifies both the actual scientific productivity and the apparent scientific impact of a scientist.
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