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A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. [2] [3] [4] Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( 1 / 60 of a degree) of latitude at the equator, so that Earth's polar circumference is very near to 21,600 nautical miles (that is 60 minutes × 360 degrees).
From 1630 to 1718 a millia was 5,564 feet (1,696 metres), making a geographical league of four millias equal 22,256 feet (6,784 m or 3.663 modern nautical miles). But from 1718 through the 1830s the millia was defined as the equivalent of just over 5,210 feet, giving a shorter geographical league of just over 20,842 feet (6,353 m or 3.430 ...
In both customary and imperial units, one foot comprises 12 inches, and one yard comprises three feet. Since an international agreement in 1959, the foot is defined as equal to exactly 0.3048 meters. Historically, the "foot" was a part of many local systems of units, including the Greek, Roman, Chinese, French, and English systems. It varied in ...
This differs from many older systems in which the ratio of different units varied. For example, 12 inches is one foot, but the larger unit in the same system, the mile is not a power of 12 feet. It is 5,280 feet – which is hard to remember for many. [5]: 17
The rod, perch, or pole (sometimes also lug) is a surveyor's tool [1] and unit of length of various historical definitions. In British imperial and US customary units, it is defined as 16 + 1 ⁄ 2 feet, equal to exactly 1 ⁄ 320 of a mile, or 5 + 1 ⁄ 2 yards (a quarter of a surveyor's chain), and is exactly 5.0292 meters.
One metre is exactly equivalent to 5 000 / 127 inches and to 1 250 / 1 143 yards. A simple mnemonic to assist with conversion is "three 3s": 1 metre is nearly equivalent to 3 feet 3 + 3 ⁄ 8 inches. This gives an overestimate of 0.125 mm. The ancient Egyptian cubit was about 0.5 m (surviving rods are 523–529 mm). [27]
The board foot or board-foot is a unit of measurement for the volume of lumber in the United States and Canada. [1] It equals the volume of a board that is one foot (30.5 cm) in length, one foot in width, and one inch (2.54 cm) in thickness, or exactly 2.359 737 216 liters.
15.24 meters – width of an NBA basketball court (50 feet) 18.44 meters – distance between the front of the pitcher's rubber and the rear point of home plate on a baseball field (60 feet, 6 inches) [125] 20 meters – length of cricket pitch (22 yards) [126] 27.43 meters – distance between bases on a baseball field (90 feet)