Walking Speed

[differenceblog]

Browning et al (2006) found no difference in preferred walking speed between men and women of normal and obese weights. All subjects preferred a walking speed of around 1.42m/s (about 3 mph), which was determined to be the speed that maximized distance for effort. This is in contrast to previous results wherein Spyropoulous et al (1991) reported

Comments

[astrogeek01]

I immediately thought of the last thing that you said here. I've often considered figuring out what the natural period of a stride given your leg length would be. A longer pendulum swings slower, but would go a larger distance, in theory. But for shorter women like me, a faster pace would be more natural, thus mitigating somewhat the issue of keeping up. The trick is that the distance covered is a chord of the circle, so does depend on how "big" a step an individual takes. So I'd basically need to know a rough angle for each person. But, if we assume that all people naturally take a step of the same angle, we might be able to figure it out

[differenceblog]

longer pendulum swings slower
I hadn't even thought of that bit. Thanks!

[astrogeek01]

I feel ashamed that I actually bothered with the math... I guess I was just hoping I wasn't actually at a disadvantage, energetically... ;)

[differenceblog]

Don't feel ashamed! that was kind of the awesome!

[ukelele]

Aiiiigh! Your icon! *stares*

[astrogeek01]

Yeah, I stole the icon from someone else. I keep thinking I should fix that, but it would take a fair amount of work and well... meh.