Another M&D footnote

David Casseres casseres at apple.com
Thu Dec 17 16:07:08 CST 1998


This is forwarded from the Silent-tristero list
(silent-tristero at world.std.com).

>Date: Thu, 10 Dec 1998 11:34:21 -0500
>From: Nichael Lynn Cramer <nichael at sover.net>
>Subject: Chains et al.
>
>>From: "Christopher R. Maden" <crism at maden.ne.mediaone.net>
>>[Mike O'Brien (quoting)]
>>> What's a "chain" as a unit of length?
>>
>>I recently discovered the UNIX command "units":
>>
>>maden-102> units
>>501 units, 41 prefixes
>>You have: chain
>>You want: feet
>>        * 66
>>        / 0.015151515
>
>Good Lord, didn't you people ever have summer jobs in school?
>
>A "chain" is the standard unit of length in the surveyor's world, so
>called, because it used be measured by a literal "chain" comprising 100
>"links" and is equal to 66ft (*not* to be confused with the "engineer's
>chain" which = 100ft).
>
>Once you know this it makes other English units somewhat more reasonable.
>For example
>an acre is 10 square chains (i.e. 66 X 66 X 10 = 43560 sq ft).
>
>Similarly a mile = 80 (= 2 X 2 X 2 X 10) chains.  (Division by two being a
>major operation in old-timey surveying.)
>
>Nichael (who can still throw a butcher's bandsaw blade, just like Bum
>Strough taught me).



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