Kenneth H. Cooper conducted a study for the United States Air Force in the late 1960s. One of the results of this was the Cooper test in which the distance covered running in 12 minutes is measured. Based on the measured distance, an estimate of V̇O max [in mL/(kg·min)] can be calculated by inverting the linear regression equation, giving us:
where d is the distance (in metres) covered in 12 minutes.
An alternative equation is:
where d&prime; is distance (in miles) covered in 12 minutes.