A mile is a unit of length, usually used to measure distance, in a number of different systems, including Imperial units, United States customary units and Norwegian/Swedish mil. Length is the long Dimension of any object The length of a thing is the distance between its ends its linear extent as measured from end to end Distance is a numerical description of how far apart objects are Imperial units or the Imperial system is a collection of units first defined in the British Weights and Measures Act of 1824 US customary units, also known in the United States as English units or Imperial units (in reference to the British Empire) (but see English A mil ( Norwegian and Swedish for Mile) is a unit of Length, usually used to measure geographic distance fairly common in Norway Its size can vary from system to system, but in each is between one and ten kilometers. The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand In contemporary English contexts, mile most commonly refers to the international mile of 5,280 feet, 1,760 yards, or exactly 1,609. A foot (plural feet or foot; symbol or abbreviation ft or sometimes &prime – the prime symbol) is a non-SI unit A yard (abbreviation yd) is a unit of Length in several different systems including English units Imperial units and United 344 meters. The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International However it can also refer to either of the following for specific uses:

• the U. S. survey mile (also known as U. S. statute mile) of 5,280 survey feet which is slightly longer at approximately 1,609. A foot (plural feet or foot; symbol or abbreviation ft or sometimes &prime – the prime symbol) is a non-SI unit 347 219 meters (1 international mile is exactly 0. 999 998 survey mile). ^[1][2]

• the international nautical mile of exactly 1,852 meters (about 6,076 feet). A nautical mile or sea mile is a unit of Length. It corresponds approximately to one minute of Latitude along any meridian. The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International A foot (plural feet or foot; symbol or abbreviation ft or sometimes &prime – the prime symbol) is a non-SI unit

There have been several abbreviations for mile (with and without trailing period): mi, ml, m, M. In the United States, the National Institute of Standards and Technology now uses and recommends mi^[3] but in everyday usage (at least in the United States and in the United Kingdom) usages such as miles per hour and miles per gallon are almost always abbreviated as mph or mpg (rather than mi/h or mi/gal). The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Miles per gallon ( MPG) is a metric term that measures how many miles a vehicle can travel on one gallon of fuel

The formula "multiply by 8 and divide by 5" to convert international miles to kilometers gives a conversion of 1. 6, accurate to 0. 6%, which is a useful approximation.

Historical definitions

The unit of distance mille passus (literally "a thousand paces" in Latin, with one pace being equal to two steps) was first used by the Romans and denoted a distance of 1,000 paces or 5,000 Roman feet, and corresponded to about 1,480 meters, or 1,618 modern yards. A pace (or double-pace) is a measure of Distance used in Ancient Rome. Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC This unit is now known as the Roman mile. ^[4]

The current definition of a mile as 5,280 feet (as opposed to 5,000) dates to the 13th century, and was confirmed by statute in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I;^[5] However, various English-speaking countries maintained independent length standards for the yard, which differed by small but measurable amounts, and thus led to miles of slightly different lengths. This was resolved in 1959 with the definition of the current international mile by Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located ^[6]

Types of mile

In modern usage, various distances are referred to as miles.

International and statute miles

The international mile (and before 1959, the statute mile) is the distance typically meant when the word mile is used without other qualifying words (e. g. nautical mile, see below). The international and statute miles are both equal to 5,280 feet, but the international mile is defined in terms of the international foot (0. 3048 m), while the statute miles of the various English-speaking countries were based on the national foot of each country. The (mostly obsolete) U. S. statute mile is based on the U. S. survey foot (which is exactly 1200/3937 m) and differs from the international mile by about 3 mm. ^[7]

The name statute mile originates from a Statute of the Parliament of England in 1592 during the reign of Elizabeth I. A statute is a formal written enactment of a Legislative authority that governs a Country, State, City, or County. The Parliament of England was the Legislature of the Kingdom of England. This defined the statute mile as 5,280 ft or 1,760 yards; or 63,360 inches. Inches redirects here To see the Les Savy Fav album see Inches. Both statute and international miles are divided into eight furlongs (the length generally that a furrow was ploughed before the horses were turned, furlong = furrow-long). A furlong is a measure of Distance in Imperial units and US customary units. In turn a furlong is ten chains (a surveyor's chain, used as such until laser range finders took over); a chain is 22 yards and a yard is three feet, making up 5,280 ft. A chain is a unit of Length; it measures 66 feet or 22 yards (20

Other miles in the British Isles

Before the statute of the English parliament, there was confusion on the length of the "mile". The Irish mile was 6,721 feet and the Scottish mile was 5,951 feet. ^[8] Perhaps the earliest tables of English linear measures, Arnold's Customs of London (c. 1500) indicates a mile consisted of 8 furlongs, each of 625 feet, for a total of 5,000 feet. ^[9] For other "miles" see the list below.

Nautical miles

On the utility of the nautical mile
Each circle shown is a great circle – the analog of a line in spherical trigonometry – and hence the shortest path connecting two points on the globular surface. A great circle is a Circle on the surface of a Sphere that has the same circumference as the sphere dividing the sphere into two equal Hemispheres.

Main article: Nautical mile

The nautical mile was originally defined as one minute of arc along a meridian (or in some instances any great circle) of the Earth. A nautical mile or sea mile is a unit of Length. It corresponds approximately to one minute of Latitude along any meridian. A minute is a Unit of measurement of Time or of Angle. The minute is a unit of Time equal to 1/60th of an Hour or 60 In Geometry, an arc is a closed segment of a Differentiable Curve in the two-dimensional plane; for example a circular This article is about the geographical concept For other uses of the word see Meridian. A great circle is a Circle on the surface of a Sphere that has the same circumference as the sphere dividing the sphere into two equal Hemispheres. ^[10] Although this distance varies depending on the latitude of the meridian (or great circle) where it is used, on average it is about 6,076 feet (about 1852 meters or 1. The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International 15 statute miles). A mile is a unit of Length, usually used to measure Distance, in a number of different systems including Imperial units United States

The nautical mile per hour is known as the knot.

Navigators use dividers to step off the distance between two points on the nautical chart, then place the open dividers against the minutes-of-latitude scale at the edge of the nautical chart, and read off the distance in nautical miles. ^[11] Since it is now known that the Earth is an ellipsoid (oblate spheroid), not a sphere, the distance of nautical miles derived from this method varies from the equator to the poles. An oblate Spheroid is a rotationally symmetric Ellipsoid having a polar axis shorter than the diameter of the equatorial circle whose plane For instance, using the WGS84 Ellipsoid, the commonly accepted Earth model for many purposes today, one minute of latitude at the WGS84 equator is 6,087 feet and at the poles is 6,067 feet. The World Geodetic System defines a reference frame for the earth for use in Geodesy and Navigation.

In the United States of America, the nautical mile was defined in the nineteenth century as 6,080. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the 2 feet (1,853. 249 m), whereas in the United Kingdom the Admiralty nautical mile was defined as 6,080 feet (1,853. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located 184 m) and was approximately one minute of latitude in the latitudes of the south of the UK. Other nations had different definitions of the nautical mile, but it is now internationally defined to be exactly 1,852 meters.

The nautical mile is almost universally used for navigation in aviation, maritime, and nautical roles because of its relationship with degrees and minutes of latitude and the ability to use the latitude scale of a map for distance measuring.

Other miles

• The Danish mil (traditional) was 24,000 Danish feet or 7. 5325 kilometers. Sometimes it was interpreted as exactly 7. 5 kilometers. It is the same as the north German meile (below). ^[12]
• The data mile is used in radar-related subjects and is equal to 6,000 feet (1. In Radar -related subjects and in JTIDS, a data mile is a unit of distance equal to 6000 feet (1 Radar is a system that uses electromagnetic waves to identify the range altitude direction or speed of both moving and fixed objects such as Aircraft, ships A foot (plural feet or foot; symbol or abbreviation ft or sometimes &prime – the prime symbol) is a non-SI unit 8288 kilometers). The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand ^[13]
• The Meile was a traditional unit in German speaking countries, much longer than a western European mile. It was 24,000 German feet; the SI equivalent was 7586 meters in Austria or 7532. 5 meters in northern Germany. There was a version known as the geographische Meile which was 4 Admiralty nautical miles, 7,412. 7 meters, or 1/15 degree. ^[14]
• The term metric mile is used in sports such as athletics (track and field) and speed skating to denote a distance of 1. Metric mile is a distance which approximates one statute Mile (1609 Speed skating or speedskating is a competitive form of Skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance 5 kilometers. The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand In United States high school competition the term is sometimes used for a race of 1. 6 kilometers. ^[15]
• In Norway and Sweden a mil is measurement unit much more used than kilometers in every day language. However in more formal situations, like on road signs and when there is risk of confusion with English miles, kilometers are used instead. The traditional Swedish mil spanned the range from 6000-14,485 meters, depending on province. The provinces of Sweden, Landskap, are historical geographical and cultural regions It was however standardized in 1649 to 36,000 Swedish feet, or 10. 687 kilometers^[16]. The Norwegian mil was 11. 298 kilometers. When the metric system was introduced in the Norwegian-Swedish union in 1889, one standardized the mil to exactly 10 kilometers ^[17]

• The radar mile is a unit of time, equal to the time required for a radar pulse to travel a distance of two miles (one mile each way). The Union between Sweden and Norway (Unionen mellan Sverige och Norge Unionen mellom Norge og Sverige or the Swedish-Norwegian Kingdom was the union of the kingdoms of Thus, the radar statute mile is 10. 8 μs and the radar nautical mile is 12. 4 μs. ^[18]
• The Russian milya (русская миля) was a traditional Russian unit of distance, equal to 7 verst, or 7. A native system of weights and measures was used in Imperial Russia and after the Russian Revolution, but it was abandoned in 1924 when the Soviet Union adopted the A verst (Russian versta, верста is an obsolete Russian Unit of length. 468 km
• The hrvatska milja (Croatian mile) is 11130 metres = 11,13 kilometres = 1/10 of equator's degree. ^[19], first time used by Jesuit Stjepan Glavač on map from 1673. The Society of Jesus ( Latin: Societas Iesu, SJ and SI or SJ, SI) is a Catholic religious order
• The banska milja" (also called "hrvatska milja") (mile of Croatian Ban, Croatian mile) was 7586 metres=7,586 kilometres, or 24000 feet. Ban (baːn is a Title used in several states in central and south-eastern Europe between the 7th century and the 20th century ^[20].

Idioms

Even in countries that have moved from the Imperial to the Metric system (for example, Australia and New Zealand), the mile is still used in a variety of idioms. An idiom is a Phrase whose meaning cannot be deduced from the literal Definition, but refers instead to a figurative meaning that is known only These include:

• A country mile is used colloquially to denote a very long distance.
• "A miss is as good as a mile" (Failure by a narrow margin is no better than any other failure)
• "Give him an inch and he'll take a mile" (The person in question will become greedy if shown generosity)
• "Missed by a mile" (Missed by a wide margin)
• "Talk a mile a minute" (Speak at a rapid rate)
• "To go the extra mile" (To put in extra effort)
• "Miles away" (Lost in thought, or daydreaming)

See also

Notes

References

• A. V. & H. Arnold Karo, (1959), Refinement of values for the yard and the pound, Washington DC: National Bureau of Standards, republished on National Geodetic Survey web site and the Federal Register (Doc. 59-5442, Filed, June 30, 1959, 8:45 a. m. )

• Barbrow, Louis E. and Lewis V. Judson (1976). Weights and Measures Standards of the United States: a brief history. National Institute of Standards and Technology.

• Butcher, Tina et al. ed. (2007). NIST Handbook 44: Specifications, Tolerances, and Other Technical Requirements for Weighing and Measuring Devices. Appendix C, p. C-13.

• Klein, Herbert Arthur (1974, corrected 1988). The Science of Measurement: A Historical Survey. New York: Dover. (previously published by Simon & Schuster under the title The World of Measurements: Masterpieces, Mysteries and Muddles of Metrology)

• Maloney, Elbet S. (1978). Dutton's Navigation and Piloting. 13th Ed. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.

• Rowlet, Russ (2005). How Many? A Dictionary of Units of Measurement. Faculty member's web page at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ( UNC, North Carolina, or simply Carolina) is a public, Coeducational Research Accessed 2007-11-10.

• Smith, William (1875). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. London: John Murray, p. 762.  

External links

• NIST General Tables of Units of Measurement