Formula for calculating distance for shot put and discus

Good question. The aerodynamic characteristic of discus would make it more difficult. Many more factors.... this is a good project!

@Sam Healy
Couldn't upload straight onto throwholics....
"https://www.dropbox.com/s/urerc6uqqw5dmtz/Calculating Distance.xlsx"
link is to my dropbox containing spreadsheet I set up using formula just download it and you should be good to go! Let me know if you have any issues

FORMULA USED - Same as website you linked
a = angle
h = height
s = speed
a = a * 0.017453293;
d = ((s * s * sin(a) * cos(a)) + (s *cos(a) * sqrt((s *s * sin(a) * sin(a)) + 2 * 9.81 * h))) / 9.81;

Isn't that a -9.81m/s^2 ? Rate of acceleration back to the ground due to gravity. I'm no physicist, but I did do multidimensional analysis in calc3; you should have all your algebraic terms correct so that they cancel so you finally end up with just distance (meters).

Furthermore, air resistance resulting from the implement clouding with billions of O2, N2, CO2, Ar, and H2O molecules... Maybe O3 if you're Jayson Young! (That was a science geek joke...lol, ozone is O3 and you're out there Jay) Air resistance is a constant. HOWEVER, it varies depending on release angle, angle at/during flight.

This is what is refered to as a multifactorial equation, of which there are so many variables to consider; I'd doubt an equation would be accurate within 10% of your actual throws....that's refered to as an actuarial improbability. Oh is that 'height' variable the height at release? Hope it is...ya might lose a few meters there : )

Neat idea, but any-who....I don't like to think that hard anymore...just train-and-throw, train-and-throw...
Life's much simpler that way.

blaghhhh...'implement colliding with..' -stupid spellcheck

yes, it is Sam: SPEED KILLS. Ultimately, the speed at which the arm is moving upon release is the governing factor, but everything we train to do goes into that.

Sam, I don't want to intrude this but many peoples ideas for throwing into the net is to justify their technique and not worry about the distance. Is there a point in worrying about how far it goes? If you need that information you are probably better off throwing outside.

@Odysseus I just grabbed the equation from the website haha. I don't know what half of it means.... I'm only still in high school
Was just trying to help Sam out

@Sam Healy
ummm, doubt it. When throwing into a net I don't worry about the distance just the technical aspects of the throw. Good technique and the distance will happen. Also if I was curious about how far I am throwing, I can brave the conditions outside and walk to the circle in my backyard.

ditto what James said, Sam...in the winter I'll take my indoor shots to a gym and throw against a wall from 40' out...only worrying about technique, speed, height and velocity at which they hit that wall