If someone can leave the formula up here, it would be great. But can someone convert the time of 6.60 seconds ran in 55 meters to time would've ran at same rate ran in 40 yards?
Thanks.
Thanks.
OT: Math equation help: Converting 55 meter time to 40 yard time
- Thread starter tico brown
- Start date
55 meters = 60.15 yards
(55 meters / 6.6s) * (60.15 yards / 55 meters) = 9.11 yards / second
(40 yards) / (9.11 yards / second) = 4.39 seconds
You really needed to post this and couldn't figure it out?
Your not taking into account the slow first 10 yards.
So rough calculation. Ran a 6.7 60 yards in HS and a 4.8 40. Looks like a 4.7 to me.
This is so wrong. Your not accounting for the start and first 10 yards which factors more into a 40. Yiur assuming he runs same speed over same distance. That's not reality. His first 10 yards is much slower then his last 20 yards. So his 40 time will be higher then what you accounted.
how much does a dolt like you bill for this lazy math
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OP's question is a valid one, and he shouldn't be criticized for asking the question. Any conversion estimates of this type require conversion tables that incorporate various data, not just the distance of the sprint.
mdk01 and superfan01 are right, but it usually takes a lot more than 10 yards to reach top velocity from a stationary start... Top speed usually isn't reached until halfway through a short sprint race or more, and the second half of a 55 meter race is run at a much faster average velocity than the first half.. So, like mdk01 and superfan01 said, a 40 yard time converted from a 55m time would actually be slower than it would be if we just considered the difference in distances, just as a 55 meter time converted from a 40 yard time would actually be faster than we'd expect based on the differences in distances, because the average velocity of the additional part of the longer distance would be run at a significantly faster average velocity.
Another reason why it's hard to do an accurate conversion is that a 55m time is usually run in a track race, so the time includes the athlete's reaction time to the starting gun, whereas many football 40 yard dashes (including the NFL Combine) start timing on the motion of the athlete, so there's no additional athlete reaction time to the gun as there is in a track and field race. (Other factors can be involved too, like the use of starting blocks in track sprints but not in football timing, differences in the running surfaces, wind and weather conditions if any of the distances are run outdoors instead of indoors, etc, etc....)
And I know of several track and field conversion sites, but I haven't found a site yet that converts a 55m time to 40 yard time, probably because 40 yards isn't a standard race in track and field.
mdk01 and superfan01 are right, but it usually takes a lot more than 10 yards to reach top velocity from a stationary start... Top speed usually isn't reached until halfway through a short sprint race or more, and the second half of a 55 meter race is run at a much faster average velocity than the first half.. So, like mdk01 and superfan01 said, a 40 yard time converted from a 55m time would actually be slower than it would be if we just considered the difference in distances, just as a 55 meter time converted from a 40 yard time would actually be faster than we'd expect based on the differences in distances, because the average velocity of the additional part of the longer distance would be run at a significantly faster average velocity.
Another reason why it's hard to do an accurate conversion is that a 55m time is usually run in a track race, so the time includes the athlete's reaction time to the starting gun, whereas many football 40 yard dashes (including the NFL Combine) start timing on the motion of the athlete, so there's no additional athlete reaction time to the gun as there is in a track and field race. (Other factors can be involved too, like the use of starting blocks in track sprints but not in football timing, differences in the running surfaces, wind and weather conditions if any of the distances are run outdoors instead of indoors, etc, etc....)
And I know of several track and field conversion sites, but I haven't found a site yet that converts a 55m time to 40 yard time, probably because 40 yards isn't a standard race in track and field.
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As somebody who both played and ran (the latter at Rutgers), this is wholly inaccurate. Nobody comes out of the blocks at top speed, not even Ben Johnson. It takes time to get to 100%; just as Usain Bolt or Carl Lewis.
You can't really convert. I was a high school track athlete who ran a 6.6/6.7 55 and I would actually pace better at the 40 because I probably had one of the best starts in the state. I'd usually get caught towards the end of the race by the premier sprinters in the day. There were other highly-recruited D1 WRs & RBs I'd race against who I'd beat to the 40 mark, but lose to by the finish.
Never said they would come out top speed or even anything like that.
OP provided a unit conversion problem, and with the information provided, I gave him the most appropriate answer. He asked for a formula, not a swag guess, and without understand acceleration variables there isn't more one can do.
Cheese backpedaling here. Guy clearly not a "math guy". Probably was a art history or journalism major in college. I'll wait for @RU848789 to reply. He is the only numbers guy I trust.
@superfan01 - thanks for the props, but given the way the question was asked, i.e., simply looking for ratios, assuming the same rate for both lenght races (not accounting for all of the things that others have brought in later with regard to any race not having a constant speed the whole time), Cheese is correct. Although I would've just simply compared the ratio of distances to times, more simply, i.e., the time for 40 yards would simply be the ratio of distances (40 yards/60.15 yards) times the time for 55 meters (6.6 seconds), which equals 4.39 seconds.
If one wants to take into account the various factors that would be different in running a shorter race, where the average speed will be slower, due to starting from 0, then @AZBlues hit most of the key points.
Anyone who's familiar with track and field sprint mechanics has a good idea of when maximum velocity is usually reached during a short sprint race. And there have been quite a few major sprint races that have had splits posted for each 10 meter segment of the race as evidence.. Here's what a sprint mechanics article from the TopVelocity website says about the 40 yard dash:
"The forty yard dash is a test used in many sports to test speed more importantly acceleration and is approximately 36.576 meters. Brent McFarlane’s (1997) article A Basic and Advanced Technical Model for Speed he states that Loren Seagrave and Kevin O’Donnell divide the acceleration phase into 30 meters which 0 – 12 meters is pure acceleration and 12-25 meters is transition. They go on to explain from 25 meters to 60 meters as the maximum velocity phase of the sprint. So, for the first 27.34 yards of the 40 yard dash an athlete is in the acceleration phase and rest of the 12.66 yards the athlete is in the maximal velocity phase."
So in a conversion, the same well conditioned athlete running 55 meters (instead of the shorter 40 yards) will have a greater percentage of his race run in the maximum velocity phase, and his final 20 yards will be run at a faster average speed than the first 40 yards were, making his 55m time a little faster than would be expected from a 40 yard conversion based only on difference in distances..(And conversely, his 40 yard time converted from a 55m time would be a little slower than what we'd expect if we based the conversion only on the difference in distances...) (FYI, a decent sprinter usually doesn't begin to slow down until sometime after 60 meters...)
"The forty yard dash is a test used in many sports to test speed more importantly acceleration and is approximately 36.576 meters. Brent McFarlane’s (1997) article A Basic and Advanced Technical Model for Speed he states that Loren Seagrave and Kevin O’Donnell divide the acceleration phase into 30 meters which 0 – 12 meters is pure acceleration and 12-25 meters is transition. They go on to explain from 25 meters to 60 meters as the maximum velocity phase of the sprint. So, for the first 27.34 yards of the 40 yard dash an athlete is in the acceleration phase and rest of the 12.66 yards the athlete is in the maximal velocity phase."
So in a conversion, the same well conditioned athlete running 55 meters (instead of the shorter 40 yards) will have a greater percentage of his race run in the maximum velocity phase, and his final 20 yards will be run at a faster average speed than the first 40 yards were, making his 55m time a little faster than would be expected from a 40 yard conversion based only on difference in distances..(And conversely, his 40 yard time converted from a 55m time would be a little slower than what we'd expect if we based the conversion only on the difference in distances...) (FYI, a decent sprinter usually doesn't begin to slow down until sometime after 60 meters...)
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I'm sorry RU Cheese, but your answer was not the most appropriate answer, and it was totally incorrect if you knew anything about sprinting, timing, or converting sprint times. There are tables and conversion sites that give carefully estimated conversions for different distances that take into account various factors, but unfortunately it's difficult to find a conversion estimate for 55m to 40 yards... But you lost the benefit of the doubt with some of us by choosing to end your answer to the OP's legitimate question with: "You really needed to post this and couldn't figure it out?"
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I apologize for not being a math major and ask a simple formula/ equation (or whatever you call it) to convert 55 meter times into 40 yard times. I wouldn’t have asked if I knew the dammed thing or if I actually found it on Google. The last time I played around with this was in high school 30 years ago.
And yes, I know the difference between running the 40 and running the 55m. Was just comparing simple numbers, nothing official.
Thanks for the responses.
And yes, I know the difference between running the 40 and running the 55m. Was just comparing simple numbers, nothing official.
Thanks for the responses.
That's par for the course for @RU Cheese A total know it all. Clearly thinks he is better then us. Makes me want to puke.
The question asked " at the same rate". So, his answer is correct.
Tico definitely doesn't need to apologize for anything.
But I need to apologize to RU Cheese.
Although his answer wasn't a good answer for the best conversion of an athlete's 55m time to an estimated 40 yard time (due to various factors mentioned in this thread), Tico did ask for a conversion based on running the two distances "at the same rate" Because of that, RU Cheese's answer can also be considered a valid answer depending on how a person defines "at the same rate" in this situation... Myself and a few others assumed that Tico was asking for a conversion to determine an athlete's approximate 40 yard time based on his actual 55m time, but Tico's "at the same rate" could also be interpreted literally as RU Cheese interpreted it.. RU848789 covered both interpretations in his reply. (RU Cheese didn't need to get kind of snarky at the end of his answer though....)
Poor choice of words on my part. Should’ve just asked to convert the time from 55m to 40 yards and stopped there.
Usain Bolt did a 4.22 fooling around
The start is usually not his best segment
The start is usually not his best segment
@tico brown I apologize for my comment. I meant it in a light-hearted way but it came across as dick-ish (esp. given the ambiguity wrt how people interpret "same rate"). Not my intent so I'm sorry about that.
Maybe, although in this case I'm not positive... Regardless though, sometimes using our best logic and common sense to decide what a person is really trying to say or ask, rather than interpreting every word they type literally, is the better choice.
