Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. The inch, based on the length of a thumb, and the foot based on, well, the length of a foot, are inherently associated with human ...

Americans have long used diverse weights and measures, reflecting their diverse origins. From colonial times, converting from one unit to another was part of courses in commercial arithmetic. The ...

TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. About the Archive This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online ...