eli5 how does a pedometer have any idea how fast im walking on a treadmill?
In: 9
The pedometer counts the number of steps that you’re taking.
It then calculates distance by multiplying the number of steps by the length of your stride.
Let’s say that a person has a hypothetical stride of 20 cm (for an adult, it should be more, but I’m working with a number that will be simple to multiply). If the person takes 100 steps, the pedometer would calculate a distance of 100 x 20 cm = 2000 cm (or 20 metres).
To figure out speed, it works out how far you would travel if you walked or ran continuously for an hour at your present pace.
So, if the hypothetical person takes 15 minutes to walk those 20m, the pedometer would multiply by 4 to work out how far they would theoretically go in an hour. 20m x 4 = 80m per hour.
Obviously, because a real person on a treadmill would not be going so slowly, the figures are given in miles or kilometres per hour.
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