The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Measuring a running track
proXimity
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I've started running on a certain track at my school, but nobody (I've asked around) seems to know how long it actually is. The best way I could figure to measure it is by using the satellite imagery from Google Maps, but doing it that way gave me an answer almost right in the middle of 1/4 and 1/5 miles for the distance. Then a runner friend suggested that the track could be 400m/440yards and that doesn't help at all.
If I were to measure my stride then count how many paces to go around the track, would I stay on the inside, or outside, or somewhere in the middle for the most accurate measure? (It's just dirt, so there's no fancy markings showing equal distances around it)
If I were to measure my stride then count how many paces to go around the track, would I stay on the inside, or outside, or somewhere in the middle for the most accurate measure? (It's just dirt, so there's no fancy markings showing equal distances around it)
proXimity on
0
Posts
You used satellite imagery to determine it was around a quarter of a mile, and then a runner friend tells you how long the track would be (because they're always 400m) and you still think this question isn't answered why?
They have those, you can get them at most hardware stores.
I was going to say that, but he seemed determined to do it the hardest way possible.
This is probably the easiest way so you're going to have to go do it.
Oh in that case
The adult blue whale is 80 feet long on average, so lay out a bunch of them on the track and divide by 80. The tricky part is that 80 feet is just an average, so you will have to do this a statistically large number of times and find the median result.
He didn't say it was 400m, just that it might be. And I didn't determine it to be 1/4 mile, just *somewhere* between 1/4 and 1/5, a result that confused me.
Anyways, off to the store to go buy some blue whales.
Assume it's a standard 400m (~1/4-mile).
Not sure if that's what you used...but it's pretty accurate.
How in the name of God would you do that?
If you got measurements for width, and height, even then I cannot see a way to write that unless it is a perfect circle.....
Unless using (x/a)^2 + (y/b)^2 = r^2
Hmm.
>_>
This is way more fun than real work.
I'd check with the school to see if they have any first. I know both my primary and highschool had a stock of meter wheels that they'd crack out for various things (measuring track lengths on sports days being where they'd get the most use). Just take one around the track and count the clicks, or just zone out for a bit if it's one of those fancy ones that keeps count for you.
measure the circumference of the bike's wheel, and put a credit card sticking into the back spokes. Count how many spokes you have, and as you ride keep track of all of the ticks (this may be difficult but it's the easiest way!) and then divide.
I see no alternative other than the blue whales.
Edit:
I'm going to go out on a limb and say ask the school or the gym teachers.
Aha! Best suggestion I've seen! Now if only I had a bike...
Run it while holding your breath and only take breaths when you absolutely need to. Count the number of breaths you take.
Then run this mystery track and see if it takes you the same number of breaths.
Hope that helps.
Those people that say 16.5 are fucking idiots and should be shot
They used the mean and didn't realize that the mean isn't resistant to outliers. They only did it once and had a whale that was genetically modified and hit 85'. They need to use the median and do some basic fucking statistics for once in their life.
I would bust out the empirical rule on their sorry asses but they probably can't even spell standard deviation.
You ought to submerge the track into a tank with a computerized blue whale. Ride the whale around the track four times and it will probably come out to 1600 meters. Then you can divide by four easily.
take a measuring tape
measure how wide the tape is
then if you buy enough measuring tapes, you can figure it out in measuring-tape-width units.
Also if you're going to use the whale method, I recommend humpbacks. They're smaller, but it's easier to get a bunch of them at once.