Strides

Strides are fundamental units of locomotion and of progress. The term refers to a long step or a forward movement, and in common usage it can describe both a single movement and the overall pace of a person or animal. In biomechanics and everyday language, a stride typically denotes the distance covered during a complete cycle of the same foot touching the ground, usually consisting of two steps.

In running and walking, stride length and cadence (steps per minute) together determine speed. Speed equals stride length times cadence (after unit conversion). Factors affecting stride include leg length, flexibility, terrain, fatigue, and training. Athletes may work on stride length or cadence depending on their sport.

In computing, stride refers to the offset between consecutive elements when iterating over a multi-dimensional array or data structure. The stride is usually measured in elements or bytes. For example, in a 2D array stored in row-major order with a fixed number of columns, the stride between successive rows equals the row length; the stride between columns equals one element, scaled by element size.

Figuratively, "taking strides" means making noticeable progress toward a goal. The phrase emphasizes the quality and size of progress rather than mere steps, and it is used in business, policy, and personal development to describe meaningful forward movement.

Strides are also used in science to estimate speed from trackways and to analyze gait in biomechanics, rehabilitation, and sport science. In archaeology and paleontology, stride length inferred from fossil footprints can help estimate locomotion patterns of extinct species.