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Length/Distance | Convert from palm [Britain, Roman minor] to chain [Gunter, survey] |
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Common Length Conversions Metric Length Conversions Unit Definition (palm [Britain, Roman minor]) A palm, when used as a unit of length, is usually four digits or three inches, i.e. 7.62 cm (for the international inch). The width of an adult human male palm is indeed about 10 centimetres.In English this unit has mostly fallen out of use, as do others based on the human arm: digit (¼ palm), finger (7/24 palm), hand (4/3 palms), shaftment (2 palms), span (3 palms), cubit (6 palms) and ell (15 palms). Unit Definition (chain [Gunter, survey]) The chain is a unit of distance formerly used by surveyors. The traditional British surveyor's chain, also called Gunter's chain because it was introduced by the English mathematician Edmund Gunter (1581-1626) in 1620, is 4 rods long: that's equal to exactly 1/80 mile, 1/10 furlong, 22 yards, or 66 feet (20.1168 meters). The traditional length of a cricket pitch is 1 chain. Gunter's chain has the useful property that an acre is exactly 10 square chains. The chain was divided into 100 links. American surveyors sometimes used a longer chain of 100 feet, known as the engineer's chain or Ramsden's chain. (However, Gunter's chain is also used in the U.S.; in fact, it is an important unit in the Public Lands Survey System.) In Texas, the vara chain of 2 varas (55.556 ft) was used in surveying Spanish land grants. In the metric world, surveyors often use a chain of 20 meters (65.617 ft).
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