Which bit do you want explaining? Paradox? (The following all assumes a right handed archer)
If you take a
longbow with a nice fat grip and clamp it rigidly and put an arrow on the string at brace height the arrow will be pointing a long way to the left*.
Whereas at full draw it will be pointing only a little to the left.
The 'paradox' is therefore why doesn't the arrow fly off to the left when it is loosed as the string returns to brace height?
The answer being that it flexes around the big fat grip.
*As a deliberately exagerated example.
If the grip of the bow was 6" wide, (that's 3" either side of the centreline) and the bracing height was just 3" then the arrow would be pointing left at 45 degrees when placed on the string at brace height!
But at a full draw of 28" it would only be pointing left by the angle whose tangent is 3/28 which happens to be 6.1 degrees.
I hope that clarifies it. If you still don't get it then I'd suggest drawing out the above example.
The '
tuning' issue is about the deflection of the string as it is released coupled to the flexing of the limbs and arrow oscillating as a system. This needs to be tuned so that the arrow flexes in a way that allows a clean consistent release. e.g you don't want it's tail end clattering into the riser.
Plenty of people insist that both these phenomena are the same and are both somehow paradoxical.
I see no paradox in the fact that a centre shot bow throws the arrows out straight. I do see a paradox in the way a
longbow will thow an arrow out straight when if let down slowly you can see the arrow 'should' go hard to the left.
Del