Does distance calculation consider Pythagoras?
I’ve thought long and hard about whether distance calculations include elevation. It seems to me that my Forerunner 405 cannot possibly be figuring elevation into its distance calculations. On other forums, runners complain that run organizers inaccurately measure their courses because the purported distance is greater than the distance as measured by their GPS (by much more than insignificant amounts). On most of these, elevation is a factor. Consider this: if we run up a hill, we run up its hypotenuse, not its base. If the GPS only measures surface distance without considering the elevation increase, it will miscalculate our pace, speed and distance. Visualize your run as a 5,12, 13 right triangle. If the base distance is 120m and the elevation gain is 50m, you’re really running 130m up the hypotenuse. You might be asking what the big deal is because 10m doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. If you run in an area with hills or mountains, it matters. Consider that Pythagoras doesn’t disc
