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From: Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org>
Newsgroups: sci.lang,alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: OT: Converting miles/km
Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2024 18:00:27 +1000
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On 20/09/24 15:22, Hibou wrote:
>
> I'm afraid I don't see the problem. Just assign 1.609344 to a memory
>  cell. That's what I do. A shortened version is fine for mental
> arithmetic - better than ln(5) - and if one has forgotten 1.6... but
> has a calculator, what's wrong with tapping 2.54 x 12 x 5,280 /
> 100,000?

That's all very well if you can remember that there are 5280 yards in a
mile. I'm afraid that my school days are far behind me, and Ancient
History was one of my weakest subjects.

I'm still just hanging on to the fact that an inch is about 25 mm, but
that's probably the magic number that's next to fade from my memory.

I still remember that a mile is about 8/5 km, but it's unlikely that
I'll ever again visit a country that uses miles, so that too will soon
fall into the bin for useless facts.

-- 
Peter Moylan       peter@pmoylan.org    http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW