On 2005 Jun 1 , at 7:53 PM, Bill Potts wrote:
Bill Hooper wrote: "Do I try to report this 456 mi. figure as 57
furlongs
...?"
I certainly hope not, seeing as there are 8 furlongs to a mile.
Perhaps you were thinking of leagues.
Mea culpa!
No, I was not thinking of leagues. I really was thinking of furlongs
but did not know how long a furlong was; I had to look it up (on
Google) and when I got the answer "1 mile = 8 furlongs", I read it
BACKWARDS. If I had read it correctly, I'd have realized that furlongs
would not do as my example. Thanks for suggesting leagues but that
wouldn't work because it would still lead to a 3 digit number (456 mi.
= 118 leagues).
My point still is, there's nothing wrong with three digit numbers and
the fact that most of us are comfortable with hearing that an
automobile trip was 456 miles long, is evidence of the fact that there
is nothing wrong with three digit numbers, so we do not even try to
convert it to some other unit that gives us a smaller numerical value.
Thanks to Bill Potts for pointing out my mistake. I think the point I
was trying to make is still valid in spite of the careless error in my
example.
Regards,
Bill Hooper
Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Go Metric America! Or get left behind!
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