Fons Adriaensen wrote: > On Tue, Jun 23, 2009 at 08:11:30AM -0500, TheOther wrote: > >> Let's see, there's 640 acres to a section, and a section of >> land is 1 mile by 1 mile, or a 1 mile square. > > Incredible, those units ! > > So a square piece of one acre would have a size of > 1 mile / sqrt(640). That square root is not an integer. > > Is this the definition of 1 acre ? > Hello Fons, You can Google an acre for the definition. I found this definition to be accurate and somewhat easier to understand: The Question: We are trying to find feet measurement for an acre—not the square footage. Can you please help? The Answer: Because an acre is a measure of area, not length, it is defined in square feet. An acre can be of any shape—a rectangle, a triangle, a circle, or even a star—so long as its area is exactly 43,560 square feet. The most standard shape for an acre is one furlong by one chain, or 660 feet by 66 feet. To find the linear measurements of other rectangular acres, just divide 43,560 by the number of feet you want on one side. A square-shaped acre would then be about 208.7 by 208.7 feet (because 208.7 x 208.7 = ~43,560). An acre 100 feet wide would be 435.6 feet long (100 x 435.6 = 43,560) and an acre 1 foot wide would be 43,560 feet long. The acre, by the way, was originally an English unit of measurement that described the area that a yoke of oxen could plow in a day. It originally differed in size from one area to the next, but was ultimately fixed at 4,840 square yards, or 160 square chains (its current size). —The Editors Note, you also get the definition of a furlong (sometimes still used in American horse racing for the length of the race). A furlong is 10 chains. Then for the definition of a chain: A chain is a unit of length; it measures 66 feet or 22 yards or 4 rods or 100 links. There are 10 chains in a furlong, and 80 furlongs in one statute mile. An acre is the area of 10 square chains (that is, an area of one chain by one furlong). The chain has been used for several centuries in Britain and in some other countries influenced by British practice. Some legal descriptions of plots of land in the USA still use these antiquated measurements. Back in my surveying days, this nearly always required having good math skills or a calculator handy for the conversions! Best, Stephen. _______________________________________________ Linux-audio-user mailing list Linux-audio-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://lists.linuxaudio.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-audio-user
