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Units in everyday use by country as of 2019 The history of the metric system began during the Age of Enlightenment with measures of length and weight derived from nature, along with their decimal multiples and fractions. The system became the standard of France and Europe within half a century. Other measures with unity ratios [Note 1] were added, and the system went on to be adopted across ...
The kilometre (SI symbol: km; / ˈ k ɪ l ə m iː t ər / or / k ɪ ˈ l ɒ m ə t ər /), spelt kilometer in American and Philippine English, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand metres (kilo-being the SI prefix for 1000).
While metric use is mandatory in some countries and voluntary in others, all countries have recognised and adopted the SI, albeit to different degrees, including the United States. As of 2011, ninety-five percent of the world's population live in countries where the metric system is the only legal system of measurement. [3]: p. 49, ch 2
Posidonius calculated the Earth's circumference by reference to the position of the star Canopus.As explained by Cleomedes, Posidonius observed Canopus on but never above the horizon at Rhodes, while at Alexandria he saw it ascend as far as 7 + 1 ⁄ 2 degrees above the horizon (the meridian arc between the latitude of the two locales is actually 5 degrees 14 minutes).
The kilometre, a unit of length, first appeared in English in 1810, [9] and the compound unit of speed "kilometers per hour" was in use in the US by 1866. [10] "Kilometres per hour" did not begin to be abbreviated in print until many years later, with several different abbreviations existing near-contemporaneously.
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Dymaxion map of the world with the 30 largest countries and territories by area This is a list of the world's countries and their dependencies , ranked by total area, including land and water. This list includes entries that are not limited to those in the ISO 3166-1 standard, which covers sovereign states and dependent territories .
Oil and petrol is sold in litres. Vehicle tyres (as in the rest of the world) mark the rim diameter in inches and the width in millimetres, such that a tyre marked '165/70R13' has a width of 165 mm, an aspect ratio (profile) of 70% and a 13-inch rim diameter. Tyre pressures may be given in either kilopascals (kPa) or pounds per square inch (PSI).