[USMA:35539] Area in convenient units

[Pat Naughtin]

Title: Area in convenient units

On 3/01/06 7:50 AM, "Martin Vlietstra" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> The are and hectare fill an awkward gap between the square metre and the
> square kilometre.  The ratio of the two is 1:10^6 so there is really room
> for a unit between them.  If the intermediate unit was 10^3 m^2, it would
> represent an awkward area - a square with sides of length 10*10^2 m (approx
> 31 m).  Alternatively it could be defined as a "metric acre" - a strip 100 m
> long and 10 m wide.  Neither is particularly satisfactory.  An awkward
> situation all round.

Dear Martin,

Strangely, suburban housing allotments in Australia have, since the 1940s, been surveyed so that they are quite close to 1000 square metres. I don’t think that this was good design; it was probably just an accident.

A typical suburban allotment might have a frontage of 66 feet and a depth of 165 feet. These dimensions arise by using one Gunter’s Chain (66 feet) for the length, and a depth of 2 1/2 Gunter’s Chains.

These dimensions translate to 20.117 metres and 50.292 metres giving an area of 1012 square metres and this is usually rounded in general conversations to 1000 square metres. Because of this nice round number, Australians (as they negotiate for these rather large allotments to be subdivided into smaller parcels of land) speak quite comfortably about 400 or 500 square metre portions.

I think it is the nice rounded value of 1000 square metres that provides everyone with a neat reference. Most folk can visualise a ‘house block’ so it follows that they can visualise 1000 square metres.

Cheers,

Pat Naughtin ASM (NSAA), LCAMS (USMA)*
PO Box 305, Belmont, Geelong, Australia
Phone 61 3 5241 2008

Pat Naughtin is the editor of the free online monthly newsletter, 'Metrication matters'.
You can subscribe by going to http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter

 * Pat is the editor of the 'Numbers and measurement' chapter of the Australian Government Publishing Service 'Style manual – for writers, editors and printers', he is an Accredited Speaking Member (ASM) with the National Speakers Association of Australia, and a Lifetime Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist (LCAMS) with the United States Metric Association. For more information go to: http://metricationmatters.com

This email and its attachments are for the sole use of the addressee and may contain information that is confidential and/or legally privileged. This email and its attachments are subject to copyright and should not be partly or wholly reproduced without the consent of the copyright owner. Any unauthorised use of disclosure of this email or its attachments is prohibited. If you receive this email in error, please immediately delete it from your system and notify the sender by return email.