• Yeather@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    3 days ago

    Yeah, but does the kilometer have a cool origin like the mile? Checkmate math nerd.

    • PhAzE@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      3 days ago

      I’d say it kind of does actually:

      The Kilometer is defined as one ten-millionth of the distance from the Earth’s North Pole to the equator along the meridian passing through Paris.

      Vs

      The mile originated with the Roman measurement of mille passus, meaning “one thousand paces,” with a pace being five Roman feet. The modern 5,280-foot statute mile evolved in England, where the 1592 parliamentary act defined the mile as eight furlongs (660 feet each) to standardize the distance.

      One is measured by earth, the other by stinky feet.

      • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        edit-2
        3 days ago

        Yeah but earth is wobbly and imprecise so now we define the meter as “the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458th of a second”

        • angrystego@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          2 days ago

          That’a a cool definition. I wouldn’t call it an origin though, that would still be the Earth measurement through Paris, which is also cool.

      • groet@feddit.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        3 days ago

        one ten-millionth of the distance from the Earth’s North Pole to the equator

        On ten-thousandth. The circumference through the poles is ~40,000km