{{Short description|Unit of length equal to one or two steps}} {{redirect|Paces||Pace (disambiguation)}} A '''pace''' is a unit of length consisting either of one normal walking step (approximately {{convert|0.75|m|inch|round=5|disp=or}}), or of a double step, returning to the same foot (approximately {{convert|1.5|m|inch|round=5|disp=or}}). The normal pace length decreases with age and some health conditions.<ref name="MorioIzawa2019">{{cite journal|last1=Morio|first1=Yuji|last2=Izawa|first2=Kazuhiro|last3=Omori|first3=Yoshitsugu|last4=Katata|first4=Hironobu|last5=Ishiyama|first5=Daisuke|last6=Koyama|first6=Shingo|last7=Yamano|first7=Yoshihisa|title=The Relationship between Walking Speed and Step Length in Older Aged Patients|journal=Diseases|volume=7|issue=1|year=2019|pages=17|issn=2079-9721|doi=10.3390/diseases7010017|pmid=30717332|pmc=6473831|doi-access=free}}</ref> The word "pace" is also used for units inverse to speed, used mainly for walking and running, commonly ''minutes per kilometer''.<ref>[http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/114036/pace-vs-speed Differences - "Pace" vs. "Speed"]</ref>
The word "pace" is also used to translate similar formal units in other systems of measurement. Pacing is also used as an informal measure in surveying, with the "pace" equal to two of the surveyor's steps reckoned through comparison with a standard rod or chain. {{TOC limit|2}} {{anchor|Roman pace|Passus|Byzantine pace|Double pace|Bema|Welsh pace|Camg razu 20}}<!--linked-->
==Standardized units==
Like other traditional measurements, the pace started as an informal unit of length, but was later standardized, often with the specific length set according to a typical brisk or military marching stride. In the United States the pace is an uncommon customary unit of length denoting a brisk single step and equal to {{convert|2+1/2|ft|in cm|1|disp=or|lk=on}}.<ref>{{Citation |contribution=Appendix G: Weights and Measures |contribution-url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/appendix/appendix-g.html |title=The World Factbook |date=2013 |location=Washington |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |ref={{harvid|CIA|2013}} |access-date=2024-12-07 |archive-date=2011-04-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110406124728/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/appendix/appendix-g.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>''U.S. Army Map Reading and Navigation'', p. 5.8, Skyhorse Publishing Inc., 2009 {{ISBN|1-60239-702-3}}.</ref>
The Ancient Roman pace ({{langx|la|passus}}) was notionally the distance of a full stride from the position of one heel where it raised off of the ground to where it set down again at the end of the step: two steps, one by each foot. Under Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, it was standardized as the distance of two steps (''{{lang|la|gradūs}}'') or five Roman feet (''{{lang|la|pedes}}''), about {{convert|1.48|m|sp=us|disp=or}}. One thousand paces were described simply as ''{{lang|la|mille passus}}'' or ''{{lang|la|passuum}}'', now known as a Roman mile; this is the origin of the English term "mile".
The Byzantine pace ({{langx|grc|βῆμα}}, ''bḗma'') was an adaption of the Roman step, a distance of 2½ Greek feet.{{refn|Schilbach,<ref>{{Citation |last=Schilbach |first=Erich |title=Byzantinische Metrologie}}. {{in lang|de}}</ref> cited by Ménage.<ref>{{Citation |first=V.L. |last=Ménage |contribution=Reviews: Speros Vryonis, Jr.: ''The decline of medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the process of islamization<!--sic--> from the eleventh through the fifteenth century.'' |title=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies |publisher=University of London |volume=36, No. 3 |date=1973 |pages=659–661 |jstor=613605 }}</ref>}} The '''double pace''' ({{lang|grc|βῆμα διπλοῦν}}, ''bḗma diploûn''), meanwhile, was similar to the Roman unit, comprising 5 Greek feet.
The Welsh pace ({{langx|cy|cam}}) was reckoned as 3 Welsh feet of 9 inches and thus may be seen as similar to the English yard: 3 paces made up a leap and 9000 a Welsh mile.
The Russian ''{{lang|ru|arshin}}'' is an archaic unit equal to {{convert|28|in|mm}} by definition. This originates from the Ottoman {{lang|tr|arşın}} of around {{convert|27|in|mm}}, defined as an arm's length.{{efn-lr| With a related unit less than this, the Ottoman arş, corresponding to the cubit or forearm. }} In the 18th century, the Anglophile Peter the Great redefined the value of the units in terms of English units. The new ''{{lang|ru|arshin}}'' became a 'pace' of exactly 28".<ref>s:ru:БСЭ1/Аршин, ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia''</ref> Military use of this measure encouraged the thought of it as a pace, and thus easily measured in the field, and so it became the calibration measure for rifle sights.<ref name="Mosin Nagant Sights" >{{Cite web |title=Mosin Nagant Sights |website=7.62x54r.net |url=https://thinlineweapons.com/7.62x54r/7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinFeatures02.html }}</ref>
==See also== *Anthropic units *Bematist *Roman & Byzantine units *English & Welsh units *Pacing in surveying *Pace count beads *Horse gait
==References== {{Notelist-lr}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:PACE}} Category:Ancient Roman units of measurement Category:Human-based units of measurement Category:Units of length
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