Re: Metric Time (was Re: Why not 13 months? (Was La Systeme Metrique))
Whittet (Whittet@shore.net)
11 Oct 1995 02:41:14 GMT
In article <10OCT199508033509@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu>, v187ef4y@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu says...
>
>In article <45cjnv$skj@shore.shore.net>, Whittet@shore.net (Whittet) writes...
> [deletions]
>>Interestingly enough if we still used cubits, feet, palms and fingers
>>to measure in, the inch and foot would be easy to make commensurate
>>with the metric system.
>
>>One finger = 3/4 inch
>>One inch = 25 mm
>>One palm = four fingers = 3 inches = 75 mm
>>One hand = four inches = 100 mm
>>Four palms = one foot = 12 inches = 300 mm
>>Five palms = one cubit = 15 inches = 375 mm
>>Six palms = 1 1/2 feet = 18 inches = 450 mm
>>Seven palms = one Royal cubit = 21 inches = 525 mm
> [rest deleted]
>
>All well and good, were it true. However, 1 inch = 25.4 mm.
NSS ! The point is that the values have varied some over the years.
The Roman foot of 296 mm was copied from the Egyptian foot of 300 mm
and the English foot of 304.8 mm was copied from the Roman.
Hence if you made the value return to what it was originally,
that is 300 mm, you would get the above relationship.
So, only
>your second equation is 'correct,' given rounding off to the nearest
>mm (I can't comment on the first).
I am not suggesting rounding off, but rather rediscovering what the
original value was.
Until I saw this, I saw your posts
>about sacred cubits in the pyramids (and everywhere else) as interesting
>if true, but now I have to have doubts if you don't know how long an
>inch is in other systems.
In case you are interested the British legal definition of 304.7997mm
is 9/100,000mm less than the US definition of 304.8006 mm for the inch.
>
>-Pat Crowe, SUNY at Buffalo
>
steve
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