Mile (unit)

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Physical unit
Unit name mile (also English mile, country mile)
Unit symbol ,
Physical quantity (s) length
Formula symbol
dimension
system Anglo-American system of measurement
In SI units
Named after Latin milia passuum '1000 double steps' , a Roman mile
See also: mile

The mile (German [English] mile , English formerly also called statute mile ) is a unit of length in the United Kingdom and the USA . It is exactly 1,609.344  meters .

Today's definition

1 mile = 1,609.344 m (since July 1, 1959)

1 mile = 1,760  yards = 5,280  feet = 63,360  inches

Old definitions

1 mile = 8  furlong = 320  poles = 5,280  feet

Until the standardization of the Anglo-American system of measurement, the mile was defined differently by 3 mm in the Commonwealth of Nations (English mile, or statute mile) and the United States. Both definitions were based on a British statute of 1593, which defines the mile as 5280  feet : “ A mile shall contain eight furlongs, every furlong forty poles, and every pole shall contain sixteen feet and an half. “This is why the mile defined in this way was often referred to as the statute mile .

Because the definitions of the foot differed slightly (by 600 nm) (one British foot was equal to 0.999998 US feet), the miles were also slightly different in length.

Since the standardization, the mile has been defined internationally at 1,609.344 meters. The definition formerly used in the USA is only used for land surveys in the USA and is referred to as the survey mile . It corresponds to 1,609.347 meters.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. Friedrich Kluge, Elmar Seebold (arrangement): Etymological dictionary of the German language . 24th edition. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2002, ISBN 978-3-11-017473-1 , p. 610 .
  2. a b c The legal units in Germany. (PDF) (No longer available online.) In: ptb.de. Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt , June 1, 2015, pp. 6-7 , archived from the original on September 24, 2015 ; accessed on March 26, 2020 .
  3. Directive 80/181 / EEC of the Council of December 20, 1979 on the approximation of the laws of the member states on units in metrology and the repeal of Directive 71/354 / EEC in the consolidated version of May 27, 2009 , accessed on March 2 2014 , p. 12.
  4. ^ Weights and Measures Act 1985. In: legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved February 16, 2014 .
  5. a b Handbook 44 - 2014. ( DOCX ) Appendix C - General Tables of Units of Measurement. In: nist.gov. National Institute of Standards and Technology , p. 8 , accessed February 16, 2014 .
  6. Owen Ruffhead: Statutes at large from the first year of King Edward the fourth to the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth (=  Statutes at large From Magna Carta to the end of the load-Parliament, 1761. . Band II ). Basket, London 1763, p. 676 (English, books.google.de ).