I caught that as well (actually posted the same story to this list some months ago).

Howard Ressel, Metric Manager
New York State Department of Transportation, Region 4

>>> "James R. Frysinger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 09/26/01 12:40am >>>
Good eyes, John. I suspect that was a simple typo.

By the way, mein Frau Sally and I just watched a tape of "Oh, Brother, 
Where Art Thou?" At the end of the movie, which is set in the 
Depression, Everet (George Clooney) is about to re-marry his wife, who 
had divorced him when he went to prison. She wants her old wedding 
ring, though, but it was in a house in a valley that has just been 
flooded to provide hydroelectric power for that area in Mississippi. He 
tells her that finding that ring now is impossible since it's at the 
bottom of a 9000 hectare lake! She says that she doesn't care if it's a 
90 000 ha lake, she wants that ring!

I really doubt that they used hectares in Mississippi in the '30s and I 
wonder if this was put in there for international appeal and 
comprehension. It is a zany movie, filled with American shtick, and 
that was perhaps the most comprehendable part of it for non-Americans.

Jim

On Tuesday 25 September 2001 23:37, kilopascal wrote:
> 2001-09-25
>
> The 2001 Sep-Oct issue of Metric Today has an error on page 8, the
> back page.
>
> The Answers to Metric Training & Education Test states:
>
> 7/10 of 1 hectare = 700 square metres.
>
> The correct answer should be that 7/10 of 1 hectare is 7 000 square
> metres.  Since a hectare is 100 m x 100 m and that is the same as 10
> 000 m�, then 0.7 of 10 000 is 7 000, not 700.
>
> I hope this is someone else's error and not that of the USMA.
>
> John

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-- 
James R. Frysinger                  University/College of Charleston
10 Captiva Row                      Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
Charleston, SC 29407                66 George Street
843.225.0805                        Charleston, SC 29424
http://www.cofc.edu/~frysingj       [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cert. Adv. Metrication Specialist   843.953.7644

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