The Golden Ratio is a mathematical constant - the limit of the ratio of successive Fibonacci numbers. The conversion rate between a kilometre and a mile is very approximately the Golden Ratio (about 1.6).
Still, road signs in the United Kingdom continue to use 'm' as the abbreviation for mile. Note that 'm' is the abbreviation for both a mile and a metre! But 'mi' means mile as well. People still say "about a hundred yards" to mean a short walking distance. In Ireland, the mile was 2240 yards well into the 20C.Īt school, we had to learn that half a mile was 880 yards, and quarter of a mile was 440 yards. In the past every part of England had its own mile, up to 2880 yards. The modern mile is 5280 feet or 1760 yards. A passus was 5 pedes (see foot), which would make 5000 feet to the mile. The picture below shows the end of a yard rule.Ī mile is derived from mille, Latin for thousand, since a Roman mile was mille passuum, a thousand Roman paces or double strides, from left foot to left foot. It was within a tenth of an inch of the modern yard. Henry I (1100-1135) decreed the lawful yard to be the distance between the tip of his nose and the end The word yard comes from the Old English gyrd, meaning a rod or measure. So it is useless for both imperial and metric measurement, a typical British compromise!Ī yard is a single stride (my stride is 2 feet). It is 30 centimetres long, which is less than a foot, and you don't get a whole number of them to a metre. A foot is approximately a light nanosecond! (A nanosecond is a billionth of a second, or 1/1,000,000,000 secs.)īeware something called a metric foot, used by DIY stores. The nearest stars are a few light years away. Click here for an old-fashioned wooden ruler.Ī light year is the distance that light travels in a year. The ruler below is 6 inches or half a foot. School rulers in Britain are usually a foot long (30 cm). Click here for a photo of a similar one in Trafalgar Square. In that year the British government created a standard master yard in a length of bronze, marked off in feet and inches. It was not until 1844 that there was anything resembling a real standard. The foot, a length of the human foot, was anything from 9 3/4 to 19 inches (my foot is 11 inches). The foot has been used in England for over a thousand years. There were twelve uncia to a pes as well (see inch). There was a Roman unit called a pes (plural pedes) which means a foot, and was 29.59cm, which is nearly the size of the modern foot. "Inchworm, inchworm, measuring the marigolds." An inch worm is a small caterpillar which moves forwards by bending its body into a loop, then straightening, looking as if it's measuring something. To inch forwards means to move slowly forwards. Metric system! If you want a quick conversion, then 2 inches is roughly 5 centimetres. This means that the Imperial units of length are based on the The inch is the basis of the Imperial measures of length, and is now legally defined as exactly 2.54 centimetres. In 1324, Edward II decreed that the inch was the length of 3 barley corns placed end-to-end. In England, the inch has been in use since medieval times. Click here for some foreign units called 'thumbs'. An inch is considered to be the width of a thumb (my thumb is 3/4 inch wide). The name comes from uncia which is Latin for 'twelfth part' (see foot). The inch was originally the width of a thumb. Well-known units - Everyone knew these and used them constantly. Small units - line, thou, barleycorn, poppy seed Old units - span, cubit, ell, bolt, cloth-yard, league, megalithic yard, pyramid inch The human body - foot, hand, palm, nail, finger Nautical units - fathom, shackle, cable, nautical mile Land measurement - furlong, chain, link, rod, pole, perch, Ramsden's chain ? Well-known units - inch, foot, yard, mile There are more advanced conversions on the tables page. The metric equivalents on this page are also all to 2 decimal places. There is a quick convertor below which gives an answer rounded to 2 decimal places.
Square lengths, such as acres, are on the area page, cubic lengths are on the volume page and speed and acceleration are on the other units page. This page gives Imperial units of length.
0 kommentar(er)
