---
title: "64 shoelace observations, then someone explained the knot"
description: "In July 2023 I published a personal experiment comparing four ways to tie my laces. Statistics found a difference; a reader’s comment helped explain the mechanism."
date: 2026-10-19
lang: en
translationKey: "shoelaces"
translationStatus: machine
kind: essay
name: "Shoelaces"
period: "July 2023"
role: "Sole participant, experimenter and thread author"
status: "Personal experiment"
tags: ["research", "behaviour", "personal"]
related: []
sourceUrls: []
canonical: "https://shipulin.md/en/texts/shoelaces/"
---

At some point, I acquired a pair of very slippery shoelaces. Instead of immediately buying different ones, I spent several months testing the best way to tie them.

## Four almost identical knots

A two-loop bow has two steps. First, you cross the laces themselves; then you cross the loops. At each step, either the left or the right part can go on top. That gives you four variations, although they look almost identical as you tie them.

You can put the right part on top both times. You can use the left both times. Or you can change direction between the first and second steps. Writing it down immediately makes it confusing: a familiar knot is easier to demonstrate with your hands.

I wrote a Shortcut. Before I left home, it told me which variation to use that day and made an entry in a spreadsheet. Afterwards, I recorded which lace had come undone first. By the time I published the analysis in July 2023, I had collected 64 observations.

That was not 64 people, or even 64 pairs of shoes. It was me, my walks and some very slippery laces. The question was personal too: could I stop having to tie them all the time?

## But we are scientists

In July 2023, I posted the results in a thread. The charts already showed a difference. But we are scientists; that won't do.

I combined the symmetrical variations, leaving a comparison between cases where the laces and loops cross in the same direction and cases where the direction changes. I ran a chi-square test and happily announced the result: changing direction was more reliable.

Problem solved, apparently. A way to avoid falling flat on your face. Literally.

Here is what worked for me: first, put the right lace over the left; then put the left loop over the right. The important part is changing direction at the second step. If you are already confused, that is fine. I also had to switch from words to a demonstration with my hands.

## The serious part of a silly study

The next day, I added the important bit. People in the comments pointed out that the result was predictable if you understood the knot's structure. One part of the lace prevents another from slipping.

Someone had looked at the mechanics and understood what I had spent months of walks and a spreadsheet trying to establish. A silly study had given me a thoroughly serious crisis.

I asked myself: how often do we work to obtain statistical confirmation before trying to understand the mechanism? I already had an answer to which variation won more often in my shoes. Understanding why it won had come by a different route.

In the end, I recorded a short video of the knot. The caption has just two steps: first, the lace in the right hand goes over the left; then the loop in the left goes over the right. You can watch it, repeat it and feel the difference with your hands.

The sample here is one person and his shoelaces. The question reaches further: how often do we test for a difference before trying to understand the mechanism?

The shoelaces gave me a reason to ask both. Not a bad result for something whose main responsibility is simply to stay tied.

## Sources

- [Original thread, 19 July 2023](https://x.com/8hipulin/status/1681763470751027204)
- [The Shortcut and recording observations](https://x.com/8hipulin/status/1681766142736584704)
- [The post about 64 observations](https://x.com/8hipulin/status/1681766445032656898)
- [Reconsidering the result, 20 July 2023](https://x.com/8hipulin/status/1682004787707904000)
- [The question about statistics and mechanism](https://x.com/8hipulin/status/1682005436877209603)
- [Video showing the knot](https://x.com/8hipulin/status/1682008299208622080)