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Length/Distance | Convert from twain to digit |
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Common Length Conversions Metric Length Conversions Unit Definition (twain) The twain is an old word for the number two, derived from the Anglo-Saxon twegen. The American author Samuel Clemens (1835-1910), who had been a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi in his youth, took his literary name from a traditional riverboat phrase "mark twain", meaning "exactly two" fathoms of water. This was the minimum depth needed for the boats to operate safely without running aground. Unit Definition (digit) The digit is a historic unit of distance equal to the width of a person's finger. Used in all the ancient civilizations of the Middle East and Mediterranean, the digit was equal to 0.75 inch or 19 millimeters with only the smallest variations. Typically, there were 4 digits in a palm, 16 in a foot, and 24 (sometimes 28) in a cubit. The word digit is from the Latin word for a finger or toe, digitus.
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