Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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 ...
Linear measure Unit Abbreviation Definition SI equivalent inch: in or ″ [Note 8] 25.4 mm [n 1] foot: ft or ′ [Note 9] 12 inches 304.8 mm [n 1] yard: yd 3 feet 0.9144 m [n 1] chain UK: 22 yards 20.117 m furlong UK: fur 220 yards 201.17 m mile [n 2] 1760 yards 1609.3 m
In addition to the yardland, Old and Middle English both used their forms of "yard" to denote the surveying lengths of 15 feet (4.6 m) or 16.5 feet (5.0 m), used in computing acres, a distance now usually known as the "rod". [5] A unit of three English feet is attested in a statute of c. 1300 , but there it is called an ell (ulna, lit.
The American football field, which has a playing area 100 yards (91.4 m) long by 160 feet (48.8 m) wide. This is often used by the American public media for the sizes of large buildings or parks. It is used both as a unit of length (100 yd or 91.4 m, the length of the playing field excluding goal areas) and as a unit of area (57,600 sq ft or ...
For measuring length, the U.S. customary system uses the inch, foot, yard, and mile, which are the only four customary length measurements in everyday use. From 1893, the foot was legally defined as exactly 1200 ⁄ 3937 m (approximately 0.304 8006 m). [13] Since July 1, 1959, the units of length have been defined on the basis of 1 yd = 0.9144 ...
An area of land one chain (four rods) wide by one furlong in length. As the traditional furlong could vary in length from country to country, so did the acre. In England an acre was 4,840 square yards (4,050 m 2), in Scotland 6,150 square yards (5,140 m 2) and in Ireland 7,840 square yards (6,560 m 2). It is a Saxon unit, meaning "field ...
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!
In 1866, the U.S. Congress passed a law that allowed, but did not require, the use of the metric system in trade and commerce. Included in the law was a table of conversion factors between the customary (i.e. English-derived) and metric units, among them a definition of the meter in terms of the yard, and the kilogram in terms of the pound.