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There has been debate about whether the thagomizer was used simply for display, as posited by Gilmore in 1914,<ref name="gilmore14">{{cite journal|author=Gilmore, C. W.|year=1914|title=Osteology of the armored Dinosauria in the United States National Museum, with special reference to the genus ''Stegosaurus''|url=https://archive.org/details/osteologyofarmor00gilm|journal=Series: Smithsonian Institution. United States National Museum. Bulletin 89|publisher=Government Printing Office, Washington|issue=89}}</ref> or used as a defensive weapon. [[Robert T. Bakker|Robert Bakker]] noted that it is likely that the length of the stegosaur tail was much more flexible than those of other [[ornithischia]]n dinosaurs because it lacked ossified tendons, thus lending credence to the idea of the thagomizer being a weapon. He also observed that ''[[Stegosaurus]]'' could have maneuvered its rear easily by keeping its large hindlimbs stationary and pushing off with its very powerfully muscled but short forelimbs, allowing it to swivel deftly to deal with attack.<ref name="bakker86">{{cite book|author=Bakker, R. T.|url=https://archive.org/details/dinosaurheresies0000bakk|title=The Dinosaur Heresies|publisher=William Morrow|year=1986|___location=New York| isbn=9780688042875 |url-access=registration}}{{ISBN?}}{{page needed|date=June 2020}}</ref> In 2010, analysis of a digitized model of ''[[Kentrosaurus|Kentrosaurus aethiopicus]]'' showed that the tail could bring the thagomizer around to the sides of the dinosaur, possibly striking an attacker beside it.<ref name="NaishDK">{{cite web|author=Naish, Darren|year=2010|title=Heinrich's digital Kentrosaurus: the SJG stegosaur special, part II|url=http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2011/01/heinrichs_digital_kentrosaurus.php|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110109004732/http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2011/01/heinrichs_digital_kentrosaurus.php|archive-date=January 9, 2011|access-date=January 19, 2011|work=Tetrapod Zoology}}</ref>
In 2001, a study of thagomizers by McWhinney et al.<ref>{{cite book|
There is also evidence for ''Stegosaurus'' defending itself, in the form of an ''[[Allosaurus]]'' tail vertebra with a partially healed puncture wound that fits a ''Stegosaurus'' tail spike.<ref name="CSMW2005">{{cite book|last=Carpenter|first=Kenneth|url=https://archive.org/details/carnivorousdinos00carp|title=The Carnivorous Dinosaurs|author2=Sanders, Frank|author3=McWhinney, Lorrie A.|author4=Wood, Lowell|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-253-34539-4|editor=Carpenter, Kenneth|___location=Bloomington and Indianapolis|page=[https://archive.org/details/carnivorousdinos00carp/page/n330 325]|chapter=Evidence for predator-prey relationships: Examples for ''Allosaurus'' and ''Stegosaurus''|url-access=limited|name-list-style=amp}}</ref> The species of stegosaur known as ''Stegosaurus stenops'' had four dermal spikes, each about {{cvt|60|-|90|cm|ft|0}} long. Discoveries of articulated stegosaur armor show that, at least in some species, these spikes protruded horizontally from the tail, not vertically as is often depicted.<ref name=Carpenter98>{{cite journal |last=Carpenter |first=Kenneth |year=1998 |journal=Modern Geology |title=Armor of ''Stegosaurus stenops'', and the taphonomic history of a new specimen from Garden Park, Colorado |volume=23 |pages=127–44}}</ref> Initially, Marsh described ''S. armatus'' as having eight spikes in its tail, unlike ''S. stenops''. However, recent research re-examined this and concluded this species also had four.<ref name="Marsh77">{{cite journal|last1=Marsh|first1=O. C|year=1877|title=A new order of extinct Reptilia (Stegosauria) from the Jurassic of the Rocky Mountains|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1450038|journal=American Journal of Science|volume=14|issue=84|pages=513–14|bibcode=1877AmJS...14..513M|doi=10.2475/ajs.s3-14.84.513|s2cid=130078453}}</ref><ref name="8spike">{{cite book|
==Mathematics==
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