[USMA:25129] Hands-on use of metric

[Harry Wyeth]

Readers may know that I coach track (hurdles) in the springtime here in California.  I had an interesting "hands-on" experience yesterday which may be of interest, and which illustrates how convenient SI is in everyday life.   I was on the track, coaching, when I noticed that a man who had help design the new 400 m track was kneeling down alongside the cement curb adjacent to the inside running lane.  There has been a recent redesign of the track which required re-marking the markers indicating where to place the hurdles for the 300 m intermediate hurdle event, and the man was trying to mark the correct indicators for one set of hurdles.  As the hurdles were on the curve before the final straightaway, they were to be staggered, and the marks on the curve for the seven hurdles needed to be a certain distance apart to indicate the placement for each hurdle in each of the seven lanes.    The marks for the inner-lane and outer-lane hurdles had been calculated and marked on the curb.  The man was trying to determine where the intermediate marks should be, using a conventional foot/inch tape measure.  He was trying to split, say, 27 7/8 inches into seven equal parts!  And he was so frustrated, making tentative marks and re-marks, scribbling notes about 1/8 and 1/4 inches and so forth on a strip of masking tape.  I pointed out that if he had a metric tape he could simply divide the total distance by 7 and have the requisite number of mm for each mark.  I think he gave up in disgust.  When I go to the track next time I will bring my metric tape and help the guy out.    HARRY WYETH