"After searching every inch of Las Vegas" — can distance be derived from area? (DC Comics)

[Nullflowerblush]

Pursuing the six (in truth, five) ice bombs Captain Cold planted around Las Vegas, The Flash reportedly "[searched] every inch of Las Vegas" within "less than a few seconds". How exactly is traveling around an entire city calculated, though? Could the approx. distance be derived from the area of the city itself?

 

[Nullflowerblush]

Bump?

 

[ArcaneAbyss]

Surface area for distance i'd assume

Edit: if possible, also account for buildings that have at least one floor up

 

[Tanin_iver]

Yeah, a rough ballpark can be derived if we divide the total search area by the surface area Flash would physically occupy under normal circumstances. The number of Flashes u can fit in the search area can then be put end to end as a line(to visualize the distance Flash would have traveled, kinda) and then the distance can be derived.

 

[DivineAura44]

Yeah, a rough ballpark can be derived if we divide the total search area by the surface area Flash would physically occupy under normal circumstances. The number of Flashes u can fit in the search area can then be put end to end as a line(to visualize the distance Flash would have traveled, kinda) and then the distance can be derived.

But a character doesn't have to occupy a space to search it. Flash could have just ran until his vision allowed him to see whether or not his target was there.
They are pretty small though so maybe this can be disregarded.

 

[Nullflowerblush]

if we divide the total search area by the surface area Flash would physically occupy under normal circumstances

So around 351700000 m^2 / 1.7 m^2?

 

[Tanin_iver]

But a character doesn't have to occupy a space to search it. Flash could have just ran until his vision allowed him to see whether or not his target was there.
They are pretty small though so maybe this can be disregarded.

Well yeah, but I said just as a ballpark, I mean a normal person's vision should be sufficient for searching a couple of square meters. Also, I prioritized this"[searched] every inch of Las Vegas" so.

So around 351700000 m^2 / 1.7 m^2?

He occupies 1.7m^2? Not sure what your calculation is so I will just give you an idea of what I kind of meant.
I will just simplify the calculation by making some assumptions(you can try better assumptions and variables for more accuracy) and say that Flash can scan everything in a 3 feet(0.9144 m) diameter circular area(0.657 m^2) around him.
=> 351700000 m^2/ 0.657 m^2 = 535312024; the points of area that flash has to scan.
The distance he would have traveled would be all the points he had to scan multiplied by the distance he had to travel for each point which would be equal to the diameter of his search area which I considered it to be a 3 feet circle.
=> 535312024 x 0.9144m = 489489315m approx

 

[Golden_Void]

Searching every square inch doesn't mean he traveled every square inch, since he would be searching with his eyes which eliminates a fair amount of travel. Also, the result of the calculation would only include landmass, not anything on top of the landmass (buildings, cars, etc.)

But at face value, convert square inches to square meters. Find the length of a runner's stride. Find the width of their hips, since the distance between the outsides of his shoes will be equivalent. The length of his stride * the width of his hips gives you the exact area he covers with each stride.

Divide the landmass area by the stride area, which gives you all the possible distance that he could've traveled assuming he maintained his stride length.

I didn't include his visual distance into the equation because the item he is looking for is like 2 inches wide, so he would be scrutinizing everything he saw, which would require him to be up close. The stride calculation also already addresses empty space, since Flash isn't occupying literally every square inch of space that he searches.

Dividing by his total surface area is wrong, because it implies he occupies that much space on the ground.