Mile

From Citizendium
Revision as of 19:26, 1 March 2007 by imported>Anthony Argyriou (created. Submitted under GFDL and CCbySA 2.5)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

The mile is a unit of distance measure in the United States customary system of measures. The mile, abbreviated mi., is 5280 feet long, or exactly 1609.344m.

The mile derives originally from the Roman mille passuum, or "thousand paces". Countries and cultures influenced by the Romans have had a variety of measures called "mile" of similar lengths. The mile is subdivided into 8 furlongs, a unit which has largely passed out of use except in horse-racing. The league was either 3 miles or 6 miles.

The mile most commonly referred to is the statute mile. There is also a nautical mile, originally defined as the distance of one minute of arc along a meridian, and now defined as 1852m exactly, about 6076.1155 feet.