Can you provide a link to the site where you found this? Euric
----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Hooper" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, 2004-04-09 13:38 Subject: [USMA:29478] Re: metric in sports > > On 2004 Apr 9 , at 10:25 AM, Mighty Chimp quoted an anti-metric person > who wrote: > > > Hey Euric, what about basketball? > > > > > The court is 94 FEET long, the basket is 10 > > > FEET high, the three point line is 25 FEET > > > out, and the free throw line is 10 FEET out. > > > > Tell him that the international basketball rules ARE metric, Euric! > > I looked up the rules of basketball in the FIBA site (International > Federation of Basketball). ALL it's rules regarding dimensions of the > playing field and equipment etc. were given in metric. (Strangely I > could not find the distances of fouls lines or any other marking on the > court floor. I must have missed something.) Here are some of the > dimensions I found. There were many more. All were totally metric. > > Court size (minimums): length 32000 mm, width 19000 mm > Size of Backboards: width 1800 mm, height 1050 mm > Height of Backboard above floor: 3050 mm > Position of goal rim above bottom of backboard: 150 mm > Length of goal netting: 450 mm > Basket diameter 450 to 457 mm > Rigidity of rim: should be able to withstand a force of 1000 N without > permanently being bent more than 2% > Rigidity of backboard: Shall be rigid enough so that, when placed > horizontally > (and supported in a particular way) that a "weight" of 50 kg shall > not cause a > deformation of more than 3 mm > > I note that all measurements were in millimetres. (Diagrams were > included showing numbers but not units; it took a little hunting to be > sure that the dimensions were assumed to be all in millimetres.) > Certainly some for the dimensions could be conveniently re-expressed in > other units such as the length and width of the court which could have > been written as 32 m and 19 m. > > I note too that the old feet and inches measurements of the original > (American) basketball rules did reveal themselves in a few odd > measurements, like the 3050 mm height of the backboard above the floor, > which is very precisely 10 feet, and the maximum allowable rim diameter > of 457 mm, which is very precisely 18 inches. But the rules gave each > measurment ONLY in millimeres, wtith no reference to the feet and inch > dimensions that they may have stemmed from. > > I noted, too, and was surprised by the use of commas to separate larger > numbers into groups of three digits (e.g.; 1050 mm was written as > "1,050 mm"). This confused me at first because, being award of the > European source, I intitally thought that the comma was a decimal > marker. A familiarity with those sizes made it clear that "1,050 mm" > must have meant 1050 mm (or written as 1 050 mm) and not 1.05 mm . > > > Regards, > Bill Hooper > Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA > ======================== > SIMPLIFICATION begins with SI > ======================== > >
