2001-12-12 I would interpret a 4 km square to be a square 4 kilometres on eaxh side. Thus an area of 4 x 4 or 16 km�.
I would also interpret 4 km squared (ending in d) to mean the same thing as 4 km�. I would interpret 4 km square (without "a" in the front) to mean 4 km squared, thinking someone meant to have the "d" at the end but forgot it or made a typo error. But, in my original comment below I was not trying to note a difference between kilometre squared and square kilometre but to question if the reporter herself knew the difference and if knew what she was saying. John ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wizard of OS" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, 2001-12-12 08:05 Subject: [USMA:16615] RE: Metric in the news > always observe the diffenrence between: > > 4 km square and (4 km) square > 4 km^2 and (4 km)^2 = 16 km^2 > > >From: "kilopascal" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Subject: [USMA:16603] RE: Metric in the news > >Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 18:19:39 -0500 > > > >2001-12-11 > > > >That is a good point. When Christiane said a "four kilometre square", did > >she mean a 4 x 4 km plot of land or did she mean a total area of 4 km�? > >Did she know what she meant or did she just read off of a prompter someone > >else's words? We really can't be sure. > > > >As for Bill's comment about the farmers and acres, I doubt they could do it > >either. They may know the sizes of certain parcels of land, not because > >they can measure it or guess it, but because they were told that by someone > >else. Anyway, nobody is going to bother to check for accuracy. > > > >John > > > > > > > > > >----- Original Message ----- > >From: "Joseph B. Reid" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Sent: Tuesday, 2001-12-11 14:10 > >Subject: [USMA:16599] RE: Metric in the news > > > > > > > Bill Hooper wrote in USMA 16596: > > > > > > >on 12/11/2001 6:49 AM, Bill Potts at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > > > > > >> Interestingly, on CNN, Christiane Amanpour was describing the area > >being > > > >> bombed as a four kilometer square. The news readers were referring to > > > >>the same > > > >> area as one and a half square miles -- an unnecessary and completely > > > >>incorrect > > > >> conversion. > > > >> > > > >> A four kilometer square is 16 square kilometers, or approximately 6 > >square > > > >> miles. > > > >> > > > >> Bill Potts, CMS > > > > > > > >Unfortunately, a lot of people think that, because a square shape one > > > >kilometre long and one kilometres wide has an area of one square > >kilometre, > > > >then a square four kilometres long and four kilometres wide must be > >FOUR > > > >square kilometres. > > > > > > > >That's WRONG, of course (4 km by 4 km is 16 square kilometres as Potts > > > >noted), but not everyone knows that. Somewhere we fail to teach our > >children > > > >in school what the concept of area is all about (and how it is > >calculated). > > > >A related problem is the assumption that, if there are 0.6 MILES in one > > > >kilometre, there will be 0.6 SQUARE miles in one SQUARE kilometre. > > > > > > > >I suspect that most Americans don't understand these things well. But > > > >"that's all right" (sarcastic), they couldn't tell the difference > >between > > > >CNN's 1.5 square miles and the correct 6 square miles anyway. How many > > > >people do you think could look out over a large area of land and give > >you an > > > >accurate estimate of it's area in square anythings? (Perhaps some > >farmers > > > >could do it, but thay'd do it in acres.) > > > > > > >Bill Hooper > > > > > > > > > I suspect that the area of devastation caused by the big bomb was 4 > >square > > > kilometres and the an ignorant scribe thought that was the same as a 4 > > > kilometre square. In which case, by another error by another scribe, > >the > > > correct result of 1.5 square miles was produced. > > > > > > Joseph B.Reid > > > 17 Glebe Road West > > > Toronto M5P 1C8 TEL. 416-486-6071 > > > > > > s > > _________________________________________________________________ > MSN Fotos ist der einfachste Weg, Ihre Fotos auszudrucken und anderen > Benutzern zur Verf�gung zu stellen: > http://photos.msn.de/support/worldwide.aspx >
