Mile

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Mile
Milestone, Knightsbridge, London - geograph.org.uk - 1590514.jpg
A milestone in Westminster showing the distance from Kensington Road to Hounslow and Hyde Park Corner in miles
General information
Unit system English unit
Unit oflength
Symbolmi or m 
Conversions
1 mi in ...... is equal to ...
    SI units    1609.344  m
    imperial/US  units   
   nautical units   0.86898  nmi

The mile is an English unit of length of linear measure equal to 5,280 feet, or 1,760 yards, and standardised as exactly 1,609.344  metres by international agreement in 1959.

Contents

With qualifiers, "mile" is also used to describe or translate a wide range of units derived from or roughly equivalent to the Roman mile, such as the nautical mile (now 1.852 km exactly), the Italian mile (roughly 1.852 km), and the Chinese mile (now 500 m exactly). The Romans divided their mile into 5,000 Roman feet but the greater importance of furlongs in pre-modern England meant that the statute mile was made equivalent to 8 furlongs or 5,280  feet in 1593. This form of the mile then spread to the British-colonized nations some of which continue to employ the mile. The US Geological Survey now employs the metre for official purposes but legacy data from its 1927 geodetic datum has meant that a separate US survey mile (6336/3937 km) continues to see some use. While most countries replaced the mile with the kilometre when switching to the International System of Units, the international mile continues to be used in some countries, such as Liberia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and a number of countries with fewer than one million inhabitants, most of which are UK or US territories, or have close historical ties with the UK or US.

The mile was usually abbreviated m. in the past but is now sometimes written as mi to avoid confusion with the SI metre. However, derived units, such as miles per hour or miles per gallon, continue to be universally abbreviated as mph and mpg, respectively.

Name

The modern English word mile derives from Middle English myle and Old English mīl, which was cognate with all other Germanic terms for "miles". These derived from the nominal ellipsis form of mīlle passus (mile) or mīlia passuum (miles), the Roman mile of one thousand paces. [1]

The present international mile is usually what is understood by the unqualified term "mile". When this distance needs to be distinguished from the nautical mile, the international mile may also be described as a "land mile" or "statute mile". [2] In British English, the "statute mile" may refer to the present international miles or to any other form of English mile since the 1593 Act of Parliament, which set it as a distance of 1,760  yards. Under American law, however, the "statute mile" refers to the US survey mile. [3] Foreign and historical units translated into English as miles usually employ a qualifier to describe the kind of mile being used but this may be omitted if it is obvious from the context, such as a discussion of the 2nd-century Antonine Itinerary describing its distances in terms of "miles" rather than "Roman miles".

The mile has been variously abbreviated—with and without a trailing period—as m, M, ml, and mi. [4] The American National Institute of Standards and Technology now uses and recommends mi in order to avoid confusion with the SI metre (m) and millilitre (ml). [5] However, derived units such as miles per hour or miles per gallon continue to be abbreviated as mph and mpg rather than mi/h and mi/gal. In the United Kingdom road signs use m as the abbreviation for mile though height and width restrictions also use m as the abbreviation for the metre, which may be displayed alongside feet and inches. [6] The BBC style holds that "There is no acceptable abbreviation for 'miles'" and so it should be spelled out when used in describing areas. [7]

Historical miles

The remains of the Golden Milestone, the zero mile marker of the Roman road network, in the Roman Forum RomaForoRomanoMiliariumAureum.JPG
The remains of the Golden Milestone, the zero mile marker of the Roman road network, in the Roman Forum

Roman mile

The Roman mile ( mille passus ,lit. "thousand paces"; abbr. m.p.; also milia passuum [n 1] and mille) consisted of a thousand paces as measured by every other step—as in the total distance of the left foot hitting the ground 1,000 times. The ancient Romans, marching their armies through uncharted territory, would often push a carved stick in the ground after each 1,000 paces. Well-fed and harshly driven Roman legionaries in good weather thus created longer miles. The distance was indirectly standardised by Agrippa's establishment of a standard Roman foot (Agrippa's own) in 29 BCE, [9] and the definition of a pace as 5 feet. An Imperial Roman mile thus denoted 5,000  Roman feet. Surveyors and specialized equipment such as the decempeda and dioptra then spread its use. [10]

In modern times, Agrippa's Imperial Roman mile was empirically estimated to have been about 1,617 yards (1,479 m) in length. [11]

In Hellenic areas of the Empire, the Roman mile (Greek : μίλιον, mílion) was used beside the native Greek units as equivalent to 8 stadia of 600 Greek feet. The mílion continued to be used as a Byzantine unit and was also used as the name of the zero mile marker for the Byzantine Empire, the Milion, located at the head of the Mese near Hagia Sophia.[ citation needed ]

The Roman mile also spread throughout Europe, with its local variations giving rise to the different units below.[ citation needed ]

Also arising from the Roman mile is the milestone. All roads radiated out from the Roman Forum throughout the Empire – 50,000 (Roman) miles of stone-paved roads. At every mile was placed a shaped stone, on which was carved a Roman numeral, indicating the number of miles from the center of Rome – the Forum. Hence, one always knew how far one was from Rome. [12]

Italian mile

The Italian mile (miglio, pl. miglia) was traditionally considered a direct continuation of the Roman mile, equal to 1000 paces, [13] although its actual value over time or between regions could vary greatly. [14] It was often used in international contexts from the Middle Ages into the 17th century [13] and is thus also known as the "geographical mile", [15] although the geographical mile is now a separate standard unit.

Arabic mile

The Arabic mile (الميل, al-mīl) was not the common Arabic unit of length; instead, Arabs and Persians traditionally used the longer parasang or "Arabic league". The Arabic mile was, however, used by medieval geographers and scientists and constituted a kind of precursor to the nautical or geographical mile. It extended the Roman mile to fit an astronomical approximation of 1 arcminute of latitude measured directly north-and-south along a meridian. Although the precise value of the approximation remains disputed, it was somewhere between 1.8 and 2.0 km.

British and Irish miles

English mile

The "old English mile" of the medieval and early modern periods varied but seems to have measured about 1.3  international miles (2.1 km). [16] The English long continued the Roman computations of the mile as 5000 feet, 1000 paces, or 8 longer divisions, which they equated with their "furrow's length" or furlong. [17]

The origins of English units are "extremely vague and uncertain", [18] but seem to have been a combination of the Roman system with native British and Germanic systems both derived from multiples of the barleycorn. [n 2] Probably by the reign of Edgar in the 10th century, the nominal prototype physical standard of English length was an arm-length iron bar (a yardstick) held by the king at Winchester; [19] [21] the foot was then one-third of its length. Henry I was said to have made a new standard in 1101 based on his own arm. [18] Following the issuance of Magna Carta, the barons of Parliament directed John and his son to keep the king's standard measure (Mensura Domini Regis) and weight at the Exchequer, [18] which thereafter verified local standards until its abolition in the 19th century. New brass standards are known to have been constructed under Henry VII and Elizabeth I. [22]

Arnold's c. 1500Customs of London recorded a mile shorter than previous ones, coming to 0.947 international miles or 1.524 km. [17]

The English statute mile was established by a Weights and Measures Act of Parliament in 1593 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The act on the Composition of Yards and Perches had shortened the length of the foot and its associated measures, causing the two methods of determining the mile to diverge. [23] Owing to the importance of the surveyor's rod in deeds and surveying undertaken under Henry VIII, [24] decreasing the length of the rod by ​1⁄11 would have amounted to a significant tax increase. Parliament instead opted to maintain the mile of 8 furlongs (which were derived from the rod) and to increase the number of feet per mile from the old Roman value. [25] The applicable passage of the statute reads: "A Mile shall contain eight Furlongs, every Furlong forty Poles, [n 3] and every Pole shall contain sixteen Foot and an half." [27] The statute mile therefore contained 5,280 feet or 1,760 yards. [17] The distance was not uniformly adopted. Robert Morden had multiple scales on his 17th-century maps which included continuing local values: his map of Hampshire, for example, bore two different "miles" with a ratio of 1 : 1.23 [28] and his map of Dorset had three scales with a ratio of 1 : 1.23 : 1.41. [29] In both cases, the traditional local units remained longer than the statute mile.

Welsh mile

The Welsh  mile (milltir or milldir) was 3  miles and 1470  yards long (6.17 km). It comprised 9000  paces (cam), each of 3  Welsh feet (troedfedd) of 9 inches (modfeddi). [30] (The Welsh inch is usually reckoned as equivalent to the English inch.) Along with other Welsh units, it was said to have been codified under Dyfnwal the Bald and Silent and retained unchanged by Hywel the Good. [31] Along with other Welsh units, it was discontinued following the conquest of Wales by the English under Edward I in the 13th century.

Scots mile

Edinburgh's "Royal Mile"--running from the castle to Holyrood Abbey--is roughly a Scots mile long. Edinburgh High Street.JPG
Edinburgh's "Royal Mile"—running from the castle to Holyrood Abbey—is roughly a Scots mile long.

The Scots mile was longer than the English mile, [33] as mentioned by Robert Burns in the first verse of his poem "Tam o' Shanter". It comprised 8 (Scots) furlongs divided into 320  falls or faws (Scots rods). [34] It varied from place to place but the most accepted equivalencies are 1,976  Imperial   yards (1.123 statute miles or 1.81 km).

It was legally abolished three times: first by a 1685 act of the Scottish Parliament, [35] again by the 1707 Treaty of Union with England, [36] and finally by the Weights and Measures Act 1824. [33] It had continued in use as a customary unit through the 18th century but had become obsolete by its final abolition.

Irish mile

Milestone on Mountbellew Bridge, erected c. 1760. Distances are given in Irish miles. Milestone, Mountbellow (geograph 5365674).jpg
Milestone on Mountbellew Bridge, erected c. 1760. Distances are given in Irish miles.

The Irish mile (míle or míle Gaelach) measured 2240 yards: approximately 1.27 statute miles or 2.048 kilometres. [37] [38] It was used in Ireland from the 16th century plantations until the 19th century, with residual use into the 20th century. The units were based on "English measure" but used a linear perch measuring 7 yards (6.4 m) as opposed to the English rod of 5.5 yards (5.0 m). [38]

Other historical miles

Various historic miles and leagues from an 1848 German textbook, given in feet, metres, and fractions of a "degree of meridian" Wegmasse1.png
Various historic miles and leagues from an 1848 German textbook, given in feet, metres, and fractions of a "degree of meridian"
Scalebar on a 16th-century map made by Mercator. The scalebar is expressed in "Hours walking or common Flemish miles", and includes three actual scales: small, medium and big Flemish miles Mercator scale.png
Scalebar on a 16th-century map made by Mercator. The scalebar is expressed in "Hours walking or common Flemish miles", and includes three actual scales: small, medium and big Flemish miles

International mile

The international mile is precisely equal to 1.609344 km (or 25146/15625 km as a fraction). [46] It was established as part of the 1959 international yard and pound agreement reached by the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Union of South Africa, [47] which resolved small but measurable differences that had arisen from separate physical standards each country had maintained for the yard. [48] As with the earlier statute mile, it continues to comprise 1,760 yards or 5,280 feet.

The old Imperial value of the yard was used in converting measurements to metric values in India in a 1976 Act of the Indian Parliament. [49] However, the current National Topographic Database of the Survey of India is based on the metric WGS-84 datum, [50] which is also used by the Global Positioning System.

The difference from the previous standards was 2  ppm, or about 3.2 millimetres (​1⁄8 inch) per mile. The U.S. standard was slightly longer and the old Imperial standards had been slightly shorter than the international mile. When the international mile was introduced in English-speaking countries, the basic geodetic datum in America was the North American Datum of 1927 (NAD27). This had been constructed by triangulation based on the definition of the foot in the Mendenhall Order of 1893, with 1 foot = 1200/3937 metres and the definition was retained for data derived from NAD27, but renamed the U.S. survey foot to distinguish it from the international foot. [51] [n 4]

The exact length of the land mile varied slightly among English-speaking countries until the international yard and pound agreement in 1959 established the yard as exactly 0.9144 metres, giving a mile exactly 1,609.344 metres. The U.S. adopted this international mile for most purposes, but retained the pre-1959 mile for some land-survey data, terming it the U. S. survey mile. In the United States, statute mile normally refers to the survey mile, [52] about 3.219 mm (​1⁄8 inch) longer than the international mile (the international mile is exactly 0.0002% less than the U.S. survey mile).

While most countries replaced the mile with the kilometre when switching to the International System of Units, the international mile continues to be used in some countries, such as Liberia, Myanmar, [53] the United Kingdom [54] and the United States. [55] It is furthermore used in a number of countries with vastly less than a million inhabitants, most of which are UK or US territories, or have close historical ties with the UK or US: American Samoa, [56] Bahamas, [57] Belize, [58] British Virgin Islands, [59] Cayman Islands, [60] Dominica, [60] Falkland Islands, [61] Grenada, [62] Guam, [63] The N. Mariana Islands, [64] Samoa, [65] St. Lucia, [66] St. Vincent & The Grenadines, [67] St. Helena, [68] St. Kitts & Nevis, [69] the Turks & Caicos Islands, [70] and the U.S. Virgin Islands. [71] The mile is even encountered in Canada, though this is predominantly in rail transport and horse racing, as the roadways have been metricated since 1977. [72] [73] [74] [75]

U.S. survey mile

The U.S. survey mile is 5,280 survey feet, or about 1,609.347 metres. [76] In the United States, statute mile formally refers to the survey mile, [3] but for most purposes, the difference between the survey mile and the international mile is insignificant—one international mile is 0.999998 U.S. survey miles—so statute mile can be used for either. But in some cases, such as in the U.S. State Plane Coordinate Systems (SPCSs), which can stretch over hundreds of miles, [77] the accumulated difference can be significant, so it is important to note that the reference is to the U.S. survey mile.

The United States redefined its yard in 1893, but this resulted in U.S. and Imperial measures of distance having very slightly different lengths.

The North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83), which replaced the NAD27, is defined in metres. State Plane Coordinate Systems were then updated, but the National Geodetic Survey left individual states to decide which (if any) definition of the foot they would use. All State Plane Coordinate Systems are defined in metres, and 42 of the 50 states only use the metre-based State Plane Coordinate Systems. However, eight states also have State Plane Coordinate Systems defined in feet, seven of them in U.S. Survey feet and one in international feet. [77]

State legislation in the U.S. is important for determining which conversion factor from the metric datum is to be used for land surveying and real estate transactions, even though the difference (2  ppm) is hardly significant, given the precision of normal surveying measurements over short distances (usually much less than a mile). Twenty-four states have legislated that surveying measures be based on the U.S. survey foot, eight have legislated that they be based on the international foot, and eighteen have not specified which conversion factor to use. [77]

Nautical mile

On the utility of the nautical mile. Each circle shown is a great circle--the analog of a line in spherical trigonometry--and hence the shortest path connecting two points on the globular surface. Meridians are great circles that pass through the poles. RechtwKugeldreieck.svg
On the utility of the nautical mile.
Each circle shown is a great circle—the analog of a line in spherical trigonometry—and hence the shortest path connecting two points on the globular surface. Meridians are great circles that pass through the poles.

The nautical mile was originally defined as one minute of arc along a meridian of the Earth. [78] Navigators use dividers to step off the distance between two points on the navigational chart, then place the open dividers against the minutes-of-latitude scale at the edge of the chart, and read off the distance in nautical miles. [79] The Earth is not perfectly spherical but an oblate spheroid, so the length of a minute of latitude increases by 1% from the equator to the poles. Using the WGS84 ellipsoid, the commonly accepted Earth model for many purposes today, one minute of latitude at the WGS84 equator is 6,046 feet and at the poles is 6,107.5 feet. The average is about 6,076 feet (about 1,852 metres or 1.15 statute miles).

In the United States, the nautical mile was defined in the 19th century as 6,080.2 feet (1,853.249 m), whereas in the United Kingdom, the Admiralty nautical mile was defined as 6,080 feet (1,853.184 m) and was about one minute of latitude in the latitudes of the south of the UK. Other nations had different definitions of the nautical mile, but it is now internationally defined to be exactly 1,852 metres (6,076.11548556 feet). [80]

The nautical mile per hour is known as the knot. Nautical miles and knots are almost universally used for aeronautical and maritime navigation, because of their relationship with degrees and minutes of latitude and the convenience of using the latitude scale on a map for distance measuring.

The data mile is used in radar-related subjects and is equal to 6,000 feet (1.8288 kilometres). [81] The radar mile is a unit of time (in the same way that the light year is a unit of distance), equal to the time required for a radar pulse to travel a distance of two miles (one mile each way). Thus, the radar statute mile is 10.8 μs and the radar nautical mile is 12.4 μs. [82]

Geographical mile

The geographical mile is based upon the length of a meridian of latitude. The German geographical mile (geographische Meile) was previously ​1⁄15° of latitude (7.4127 km). [83]

Grid system

Cities in the continental United States often have streets laid out by miles. Detroit, Indianapolis, Chicago, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Miami, are several examples. Typically the largest streets are about a mile apart, with others at smaller intervals. In the Manhattan borough of New York City "streets" are close to 20 per mile, while the major numbered "avenues" are about six per mile. (Centerline to centerline, 42nd Street to 22nd Street is supposed to be 5250 feet while 42nd Street to 62nd Street is supposed to be [ clarification needed ] 5276 ft 8 in.)[ citation needed ]

Metric mile

The informal term "metric mile" is used in sports such as track and field athletics and speed skating to denote a distance of 1,500 metres (4,921 ft). In United States high-school competition, the term is sometimes used for a race of 1,600 metres (5,249 ft). [84]

Scandinavian mile

The Scandinavian mile (mil) remains in common use in Norway and Sweden, where it has meant precisely 10 km since metrication occurred in 1889. [39] It is used in informal situations and in measurements of fuel consumption, which are often given as litres per mil. In formal situations (such as official road signs) and where confusion may occur with international miles, it is avoided in favour of kilometres.

The Swedish mile was standardised as 36,000 Swedish feet or 10.687 km in 1649; before that it varied by province from about 6 to 14.485 km. [39]

Before metrication, the Norwegian mile was 11.298 km.

The traditional Finnish peninkulma was translated as mil in Swedish and also set equal to 10 km during metrication in 1887, but is much less commonly used.

Comparison table

A comparison of the different lengths for a "mile", in different countries and at different times in history, is given in the table below. Leagues are also included in this list because, in terms of length, they fall in between the short West European miles and the long North, Central and Eastern European miles.

Length (m)NameCountry usedFromToDefinitionRemarks
960–1,152talmudic milIsrael Biblical and Talmudic units of measurement
1,480mille passus, milliariumRoman Empire Ancient Roman units of measurement
1,486.6miglio [85] Sicily
1,524London mileEngland
1,609.3426(statute) mileGreat Britain159219591,760 yards Over the course of time, the length of a yard changed several times and consequently so did the English, and from 1824, the imperial mile. The statute mile was introduced in 1592 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I
1,609.344mileinternational1959today1,760 yards Until 1 July 1959 the imperial mile was a standard length worldwide. The length given in metres is exact.
1,609.3472(statute) mileUnited States1893today1,760 yards From 1959 also called the U.S. Survey Mile. From then its only utility has been land survey, before it was the standard mile. From 1893 its exact length in metres was: 3600/3937 × 1760
1,820Italy
1,852 nautical mile internationaltodayapprox. 1 minute of arc Measured at a circumference of 40,000 km. Abbreviation: NM, nm
1,852.3(for comparison)1 meridian minute
1,853.181nautical mileTurkey
1,855.4(for comparison)1 equatorial minuteAlthough the NM was defined on the basis of the minute, it varies from the equatorial minute, because at that time the circumference of the equator could only be estimated at 40,000 km.
2,065Portugal
2,220Gallo-Roman league Gallo-Roman culture 1.5 milesUnder the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus, this replaced the Roman mile as the official unit of distance in the Gallic and Germanic provinces, although there were regional and temporal variations. [86]
2,470Sardinia, Piemont
2,622Scotland
2,880Ireland
3,780Flanders
3,898French lieue (post league)France2,000 "body lengths"
4,000general or metric league
4,000legueGuatemala
4,190legueMexico [87] = 2,500 tresas = 5,000 varas
4,444.8landleuge​1⁄25° of a circle of longitude
4,452.2lieue communeFrance Units of measurement in France before the French Revolution
4,513legueParaguay
4,513leguaChile, [87] (Guatemala, Haiti)= 36 cuadros = 5400 varas
4,808Switzerland
4,828English land leagueEngland3 miles
4,800
4,900		Germanic rasta, also doppelleuge
(double league)
5,000légua novaPortugal [87]
5,196leguaBolivia [87] = 40 ladres
5,152legua argentinaArgentina, Buenos Aires [87] = 6,000 varas
5,154legueUruguay
5,200Bolivian leguaBolivia
5,370legueVenezuela
5,500Portuguese leguaPortugal
5,510legueEcuador
5,510Ecuadorian leguaEcuador
5,532.5Landleuge
(state league)		Prussia
5,540legueHonduras
5,556Seeleuge (nautical league)​1⁄20° of a circle of longitude
3 nautical miles
5,570leguaSpain and Chile Spanish customary units
5,572leguaColombia [87] = 3 Millas
5,572.7leguePeru [87] = 20,000 feet
5,572.7legua antigua
old league		Spain [87] = 3 millas = 15,000 feet
5,590léguaBrazil [87] = 5,000 varas = 2,500 bracas
5,600Brazilian leguaBrazil
5,685 Fersah (Turkish league)Ottoman Empire19334 Turkish milesDerived from Persian Parasang .
5,840 [88] Dutch mileHolland
6,170milltirWales13thC9000 camau ( = 27 000 troedfeddi = 243 000 inches)Eclipsed by the conquest of Wales by Edward I
6,197légua antigaPortugal [87] = 3 milhas = 24 estadios
6,240Persian leguePersia
6,277Luxembourg
6,280Belgium
6,687.24legua nueva
new league, since 1766		Spain [87] = 8,000 varas
6,797Landvermessermeile
(state survey mile)		Saxony
7,400Netherlands
7,409(for comparison)4 meridian minutes
7,419.2Kingdom of Hanover
7,419.4Duchy of Brunswick
7,420.4
7,414.9		Bavaria
7,420.439geographic mile​1⁄15 equatorial grads [ dubious – discuss ]
7,421.6(for comparison)4 equatorial minutes
7,448.7Württemberg
7,450Hohenzollern
7,467.6Russia7 verst Obsolete Russian units of measurement
7,480Bohemia
7,500kleine / neue Postmeile
(small/new postal mile)		Saxony1840 German Empire, North German Confederation, Grand Duchy of Hesse, Russia
7,532.5Land(es)meile
(German state mile)		Denmark, Hamburg, Prussia primarily for Denmark defined by Ole Rømer
7,585.9Postmeile
(post mile)		Austro-Hungary Austrian units of measurement
7,850 Milă Romania
8,800Schleswig-Holstein
8,888.89Baden
9,062mittlere Post- / Polizeimeile
(middle post mile or police mile)		Saxony1722
9,206.3Electorate of Hesse
9,261.4(for comparison)5 meridian minutes
9,277(for comparison)5 equatorial minutes
9,323alte Landmeile
(old state mile)		Hanover1836
9,347alte Landmeile
(old state mile)		Hanover1836
9,869.6Oldenburg
10,000metric mile, Scandinavian mile Norway, Swedenstill commonly used today, e. g. for road distances.; equates to the myriametre
10,044große Meile
(great mile)		Westphalia
10,670Finland
10.688.54milSweden1889In normal speech, "mil" means a Scandinavian mile of 10 km.
11,113.7(for comparison)6 meridian minutes
11,132.4(for comparison)6 equatorial minutes
11,299milNorwaywas equivalent to 3000 Rhenish rods.

Similar units:

Idioms

Even in English-speaking countries that have moved from the Imperial to the metric system (for example, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand), the mile is still used in a variety of idioms. These include:

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ A partitive genitive construction literally meaning "one thousand of paces". [8]
  2. ↑ The c. 1300 Composition of Yards and Perches, a statute of uncertain date usually reckoned as an enactment of Edward I [19] or II, [18] notionally continued to derive English units from three barleycorns "dry and round" to the inch [19] and this statute remained in force until the 1824 Weights and Measures Act establishing the Imperial system. In practice, official measures were verified using the standards at the Exchequer or simply ignored. [20]
  3. ↑ "Pole" being another name for the rod.
  4. ↑ When reading the document it helps to bear in mind that 999,998 = 3,937 × 254.

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The yard is an English unit of length, in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement, that comprises 3 feet or 36 inches.

The square mile is an imperial and US unit of measure for an area equal to the area of a square with a side length of one statute mile. It should not be confused with miles square, which refers to a square region with each side having the specified length. For instance, 20 miles square has an area equal to 400 square miles; a rectangle of 10 × 40 miles likewise has an area of 400 square miles, but it is not 20 miles square.

The foot is a unit of length in the imperial and US customary systems of measurement. Since the International Yard and Pound Agreement of 1959, one foot is defined as 0.3048 meter exactly. In customary and imperial units, the foot comprises 12 inches and three feet compose a yard.

Knot (unit) historical unit of speed used for ships equal 1852 meter per hour

The knot is a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour, exactly 1.852 km/h. The ISO standard symbol for the knot is kn. The same symbol is preferred by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE); kt is also common, especially in aviation, where it is the form recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The knot is a non-SI unit. Worldwide, the knot is used in meteorology, and in maritime and air navigation—for example, a vessel travelling at 1 knot along a meridian travels approximately one minute of geographic latitude in one hour.

Unit of length Reference value of length

A unit of length refers to any arbitrarily chosen and accepted reference standard for measurement of length. The most common units in modern use are U.S. customary units in the United States and metric units elsewhere. British Imperial units are still used for some purposes in the United Kingdom and some other countries. The metric system is sub-divided into SI and non-SI units.

The rod or perch or pole is a surveyor’s tool and unit of length exactly equal to ​5 1⁄2 yards, 16​1⁄2 feet, ​1⁄320 of a statute mile, or one-fourth of a surveyor's chain. The rod is useful as a unit of length because whole number multiples of it can form one acre of square measure. The 'perfect acre' is a rectangular area of 43,560 square feet, bounded by sides 660 feet long and 66 feet wide or, equivalently, 40 rods and 4 rods. An acre is therefore 160 square rods.

The chain is a unit of length equal to 66 feet. It is subdivided into 100 links or 4 rods. There are 10 chains in a furlong, and 80 chains in one statute mile. In metric terms, it is 20.1168 m long. By extension, chainage is the distance along a curved or straight survey line from a fixed commencing point, as given by an odometer.

A system of measurement is a collection of units of measurement and rules relating them to each other. Systems of measurement have historically been important, regulated and defined for the purposes of science and commerce. Systems of measurement in use include the International System of Units (SI), the modern form of the metric system, the imperial system, and United States customary units.

The following systems arose from earlier systems, and in many cases utilise parts of much older systems. For the most part they were used to varying degrees in the Middle Ages and surrounding time periods. Some of these systems found their way into later systems, such as the Imperial system and even SI. There were several types to measure that is

A pace is a unit of length consisting either of one normal walking step, or of a double step, returning to the same foot. Like other traditional measurements, paces started as informal units but have since been standardized, often with the specific length set according to a typical brisk or military marching stride.

English units are the units of measurement that were used in England up to 1826, which evolved as a combination of the Anglo-Saxon and Roman systems of units. Various standards have applied to English units at different times, in different places, and for different applications.

History of measurement

The earliest recorded systems of weights and measures originate in the 3rd or 4th millennium BC. Even the very earliest civilizations needed measurement for purposes of agriculture, construction, and trade. Early standard units might only have applied to a single community or small region, with every area developing its own standards for lengths, areas, volumes and masses. Often such systems were closely tied to one field of use, so that volume measures used, for example, for dry grains were unrelated to those for liquids, with neither bearing any particular relationship to units of length used for measuring cloth or land. With development of manufacturing technologies, and the growing importance of trade between communities and ultimately across the Earth, standardized weights and measures became critical. Starting in the 18th century, modernized, simplified and uniform systems of weights and measures were developed, with the fundamental units defined by ever more precise methods in the science of metrology. The discovery and application of electricity was one factor motivating the development of standardized internationally applicable units.

Comparison of the imperial and US customary measurement systems

Both the imperial and United States customary systems of measurement derive from earlier English systems used in the Middle Ages, that were the result of a combination of the local Anglo-Saxon units inherited from German tribes and Roman units brought by William the Conqueror after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.

Imperial and US customary measurement systems English (pre 1824), Imperial (post 1824) and US Customary (post 1776) units of measure

The Imperial and US customary measurement systems are both derived from an earlier English system of measurement which in turn can be traced back to Ancient Roman units of measurement, and Carolingian and Saxon units of measure.

References

Citations

  1. ↑ OED (2002), "mile, n.1".
  2. ↑ AHD (2006), "mile, 1".
  3. 1 2 Thompson (2008), B.6..
  4. ↑ Weintrit, Adam (October 24, 2019). ""History of the Nautical Mile"". Logistyka. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  5. ↑ Butcher (2014), p. C-16.
  6. ↑ "Road traffic: The traffic signs regulations and general directions 2015" (PDF). gov.uk.
  7. ↑ "Numbers" bbc.co.uk
  8. ↑ Lease (1905), p. 211.
  9. ↑ Soren (1999), p. 184.
  10. ↑ Shuttleworth.
  11. ↑ Smith (1875), p. 171.
  12. ↑ Lesley Adkins; Roy A. Adkins; Both Professional Archaeologists Roy A Adkins (14 May 2014). Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. Infobase Publishing. pp. 199–. ISBN   978-0-8160-7482-2.
  13. 1 2 1.
  14. ↑ Zupko (1981), "Miglio".
  15. ↑ 2.
  16. ↑ Andrews (2003), p. 70.
  17. 1 2 3 Klein (1988), p. 69.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Chisholm (1864), p. 8.
  19. 1 2 3 NPL.
  20. ↑ Chisholm (1864), p. 37.
  21. ↑ Chisolm (1864), p. 8.
  22. ↑ Chisholm (1864), p. 4.
  23. ↑ Zupko (1977), pp. 10–11, 20–21.
  24. ↑ Burke (1978), Ch. 9.
  25. ↑ Adams (1990).
  26. ↑ Statutes at large from the first year of King Edward the fourth to the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Vol. II. 1763. p. 676. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
  27. ↑ Act 35 Eliz. Icap. 6, s. 8. [26]
  28. ↑ Norgate (1998).
  29. ↑ Morden (1695).
  30. ↑ Owen (1841), Book II, Ch. XVII, §5.
  31. ↑ Owen (1841), Book II, Ch. XVII, §2.
  32. ↑ Edinburgh 2000 visitors' guide. Collins. 1999. p. 31. ISBN   978-0-004-49017-5.
  33. 1 2 "mile". Dictionary of the Scottish Language – Scottish National Dictionary.
  34. ↑ "fall, faw". Dictionary of the Scottish Language – Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue.
  35. ↑ "Act for a standard of miles" (June 16, 1685). APSviii: 494, c.59. RPS 1685/4/83.
  36. ↑ Union with England Act 1707 (c. 7), art. 17.
  37. ↑ Rowlett (2005), "Irish mile".
  38. 1 2 Ordnance Survey Ireland. "Frequently Asked Questions". Archived from the original on February 28, 2012. Retrieved February 17, 2009.
  39. 1 2 3 Rowlett (2005), "mil 4".
  40. ↑ "Historie der Postsäulen" (in German). Forschungsgruppe Kursächsische Postmeilensäulen e.V. und 1. Sächsischer Postkutschenverein e.V. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  41. ↑ Rowlett (2005), "milha".
  42. ↑ (in Croatian) "Centuries of Natural Science in Croatia : Theory and Application". Kartografija i putopisi.
  43. ↑ Viličić, Marina; Lapaine, Miljenko (2016). "Hrvatska milja na starim kartama" [The Croatian Mile on Old Maps](PDF). Kartografija i geoinformacije (in Croatian and English). Zagreb: Croatian Cartographic Society. 15 (25): 4–22. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  44. ↑ Opačić, Nives (23 February 2003). "Mrvice s banskoga stola". Vijenac (in Croatian). No. 232. Zagreb: Matica hrvatska . Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  45. ↑ "Schedule I, Part VI", Weights & Measures Act of 1985 .
  46. ↑ 1,760 yards × 0.9144 m/yard. [45]
  47. ↑ Barbrow (1976), pp. 16–17, 20.
  48. ↑ Bigg (1964).
  49. ↑ Schedule to the Standards of Weights and Measures Act, 1976.
  50. ↑ Survey of India, "National Map Policy – 2005 Archived 2010-03-31 at the Wayback Machine ".
  51. ↑ Astin (1959).
  52. ↑ Convert mile [statute] to mile [statute, US] "1 metre is equal to 0.000621371192237 mile [statute], or 0.000621369949495 mile [statute, US]. ... The U.S. statute mile (or survey mile) is defined by the survey foot. This is different from the international statute mile, which is defined as exactly 1609.344 metres. The U.S. statute mile is defined as 5,280 U.S. survey feet, which is around 1609.347219 metres."
  53. ↑ File:Naypyitaw Tollbooth.jpg
  54. ↑ "The Units of Measurement Regulations 1995", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, SI 1995/1804
  55. ↑ Maximum posted speed limits (US) IIHS. Retrieved 14 September 2011
  56. ↑ Hayner, Jeff (2012-11-29). "ASAA planning 1.2 mile swim in Pago Pago harbor". Samoa News. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
  57. ↑ "The Nassau Guardian". The Nassau Guardian. 2012-08-29. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
  58. ↑ Jerome Williams (2013-08-30). "Pawpa Brown Race results". Amandala.com.bz. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
  59. ↑ "Mt. bikers compete in Anegada". Bvibeacon.com. 2013-05-08. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
  60. 1 2 "Paddling 300 miles for NCVO". Compasscayman.com. 2013-06-04. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
  61. ↑ "Bronze medal for Falklands football at Island Games in Bermuda". Penguin-news.com. 2013-07-24. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
  62. ↑ "Find the culprit!!!". Spicegrenada.com. Archived from the original on 2013-09-16. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
  63. ↑ "Navy evacuates patient from cruise ship 50 miles off Guam". guampdn.com. 2013-03-09. Archived from the original on 2013-09-16. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
  64. ↑ IP&E launches Lucky 7 Mile Advantage promotion "... through Sept. 9, 2013"
  65. ↑ When you need to go "Dear Editor, I'm deeply concerned about the lack of public toilets around the coast ..."
  66. ↑ "The Voice – The national newspaper of St. Lucia since 1885". Thevoiceslu.com. 2008-02-08. Archived from the original on 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
  67. ↑ "Peace Corps Volunteer runs 49 miles from Petit Bordel to Georgetown". Searchlight.vc. 2011-12-16. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
  68. ↑ "And I would walk 50 miles..." Sthelenaonline.org. 2012-10-07. Archived from the original on 2014-03-22. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
  69. ↑ "104 Square Miles, but is it ours?". The St. Kitts-Nevis Observer. 2012-09-28. Archived from the original on 2013-02-01. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
  70. ↑ "Provo has a new club". Suntci.com. 2009-07-15. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
  71. ↑ AARON GRAY (Daily News Staff) (2012-02-27). "Butler outduels archrival to win 8 Tuff Miles". Virgin Islands Daily News. Archived from the original on 2013-09-16. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
  72. ↑ Weights and Measures Act, accessed February 2012, Act current to 2012-01-18. Canadian units (5) The Canadian units of measurement are as set out and defined in Schedule II, and the symbols and abbreviations therefor are as added pursuant to subparagraph 6(1)(b)(ii).
  73. ↑ Weights and Measures Act Archived 2012-10-16 at the Wayback Machine
  74. ↑ Transportation Safety Board of Canada, accessed February 2012, Rail Report – 2010 – Report Number R10E0096. Other Factual Information (See Figure 1). 2. Assignment 602 travelled approximately 12 car lengths into track VC-64 and at a speed of 9 mph struck a stationary cut of 46 empty cars (with the air brakes applied) that had been placed in the track about ​2 1⁄2 hours earlier. Canadian railways have not been metricated and therefore continue to measure trackage in miles and speed in miles per hour.
  75. ↑ Hastings Racecourse Fact Book Archived 2012-04-18 at the Wayback Machine Like Canadian railways, Canadian race tracks etc, have not been metricated and continue to measure distance in miles, furlongs, and yards (see page 18 of the fact book).
  76. ↑ .
  77. 1 2 3 U.S. National Geodetic Survey. "What are the 'official' conversions that are used by NGS to convert 1) metres to inches, and 2) metres to feet?". Frequently Asked Questions about the National Geodetic Survey. Retrieved May 16, 2009.
  78. ↑ Maloney (1978), p. 34.
  79. ↑ Maloney (1978), pp. 34–35.
  80. ↑ International Bureau of Weights and Measures (2006), The International System of Units (SI) (PDF) (8th ed.), p. 127, ISBN   92-822-2213-6, archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-08-14.
  81. ↑ Rowlett (2005), "data mile".
  82. ↑ Rowlett (2005), "radar mile".
  83. ↑ Rowlett (2005), "meile".
  84. ↑ Rowlett (2005), "mile".
  85. ↑ Leopold Carl Bleibtreu: Handbuch der Münz-, Maß- und Gewichtskunde und des Wechsel-Staatspapier-, Bank- und Aktienwesens europäischer und außereuropäischer Länder und Städte. Verlag von J. Engelhorn, Stuttgart, 1863, p. 332
  86. ↑ Pre-metric units of length
  87. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Helmut Kahnt (1986), BI-Lexikon Alte Maße, Münzen und Gewichte, Leipzig: VEB Bibliographisches Institut, p. 380
  88. ↑ IKAR-Altkartendatenbank [ permanent dead link ] der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Kartenabteilung.
  89. ↑ Concise Oxford English Dictionary (5th edition; 1964). Oxford University Press.
  90. ↑ John Heywood (1562). The proverbs, epigrams, and miscellanies of John Heywood ... Print. for subscribers, by the Early English Drama Society. pp. 95–. Retrieved 1 December 2011.

Bibliography

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