Mathematics World Befuddled by MB's Math Error
Mathematicians the world over were shocked to discover the error committed by MB in connection with the distances he runs around Valley Creek Trail. For weeks, MB had calculated the distance around his usual running trail to be 1.05 miles, only to discover upon re-calculation Wednesday that the distance is only 1.025 miles. Although seemingly a minor error (just .025 miles for every loop run), his calculations of both total distances run (especially on Saturday) and pace per mile run were, on average, .10 miles farther in total and 15 seconds per mile faster than he actually ran.
Fortunately, having caught his error, MB has corrected the training distances he will run from now on and his recorded distances and times will accurately reflect what he has actually done.
MB's mea culpa was deemed suffient for the mathematics and running world, and faith in MB's errorless ways has been restored.
2 comments:
That totally sucks to think you ran 1.05 and find out it wasn't!
Wait, so we recorded times that were actually faster or slower?
If we recorded 13 min for 1.025 instead of for 1.05 would that make us slower than expected? What did you use to measure? Curious.
Your query requires a three-part answer.
First, our total distance run at Valley Creek Trail needs to be REDUCED by .025 miles per full lap run (1.05 - 1.025 = .025). So, when we thought that we ran 6.25 miles, we ran only 6.125 miles (we ran 5 full laps; multiplying 5 X .025 = .125; 6.25 -.125 = 6.125).
Second, because our total distance run was 6.125 miles, our time per mile has to be increased by about 2.1 %, or between 14 and 16 seconds per mile -- depending on how fast we were running. So instead of 6.25 miles in 82 minutes (13:07 minutes/mile), we actually ran 6.125 miles in 82 minutes (or 13:23 minutes/mile) or about 16 seconds per mile slower pace.
Third, I know that the loop is 1 mile and an additional 14 - 16 seconds long. The 1 mile portion of the loop was measured and marked years ago, and the extra distance between the END of the marked 1 mile and the BEGINNING is anywhere between 14 and 16 seconds additional distance, depending on the pace being run, which I calculate to be about .025 mile long.
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