17 hands x 4 inches per hand = 68 inches. 68 inches x 2.54 cm per inch = 173 cm. A difference of 3 cm when compared to using 10 cm as a close enough approximation. I have never seen horses measured in parts of a hand or hands and inches. Please tell me if they do!! So it would seem they round of or down to the nearest hand or about 10 cm. Thus a 3 cm difference in conversion methods out of a possible +/-5 cm rounding error would be within tolerance. So, using the conversion factor of 1 hand = 1 dm would be just as valid as using 4 inches. Agreed??
Euric ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stephen Gallagher" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, 2004-06-06 08:33 Subject: [USMA:30050] RE: Horse racing > > > >> that horse is 17 hands tall? Hmmm... come again? What the > heck does > > that mean? > > > > 17 x 100 mm = 1700 mm = 1.7 m. How convenient! > > Of course, what you're trying to point out is how easy it is > to multiply units of measurement in metric. > > At the same time, keep in mind that, in the US, a hand is > 4 inches, which is not exactly 100 mm. > > Stephen Gallagher > >
