Talk:Mile

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[edit] Exact mile length ambiguity

It seems that there is an ambiguity in this article pretaining to the definition of the length of a mile.

In the "1 mile" box, it says that a mile is equal to 1760.000003 yd, but in the article, it claims that "It is defined to be precisely 1,760 international yards"

I think that this is due to the calculation roundoff error in the "Unit of length" template box calculations. Can someone figure how to rectify this problem possibly?

--cinderblock 07:22, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Usage of the mile

I've added this little bit in here - I think it's relevant and interesting / useful to have along with the rest of the article. I'd rather that it didn't point to metrication but to a specific page detailing Usage of the mile which I think would be good to have but I can't find one by that name or with similar content and don't have time at the moment to start it. Also, being a bit of an amateur, I don't know the template thingy which puts 'see also' at the top (like the { { main } } one) so if you know and can change it that would be good - and then I'd learn! Iancaddy 00:40, 8 March 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Dutch Mile

I added the second Dutch mile, the one "from the Netherlands" and by definition 1 kilometer, perhaps there should be an English language article about the Dutch metric system (basically using the units, but not the words of the SI). The older, longer Dutch mile has Dutch in the "from Holland" meaning. ThW5 12:41, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Well, you give the 19th of a degree mile, but there was also a Dutch mile of exactly a fifteenth of a degree, then estimated at about 7157 metres, though it should have been 7407 metres. Or is it the same mile and a 15th of a degree at the latitude of The Netherlands corresponds to a 19th at the equator? Or is there a third mile, the Hollandse mijl (Hollandic mile), of a twentieth of a degree and differing from the Duytsche mijl? --MWAK 20:07, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

My goodness, the problem with the Hollandic mile is that it is not exact defined, that is there are exact definitions (from different periods and all) but they vary quite a lot, it is a distance one could go walking in an hour, somewhere in between 3 and 6 km, though the preference seems to be on 5,555.56 m. Duytsche is to be understood as German, which was the one the Dutch used as nautical mile, it is true that this mile could also be translated as Dutch miles. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 145.53.234.50 (talk) 12:04, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Arab Mile (mil)

I find myself in the embarassing possition of having started researching the Arabic Mile, but not enough time to write anything coherent. So, here are my references and links:

Archaeogeodesy [[1]]
Al-Khorezmi and the dawn of Algebra [[2]]
The Origin of English Measures [[3]]
The Structure of Linear Units [[4]]
Columbus and the Invention of Discovery [[5]]

That last references cites the Arabic Mile as being a rather long 1973.5 meters, causing some confusion to Christopher Columbus, making him think that Asia was a lot closer westward from Europe than it actually was. Josh-Levin@ieee.org 23:12, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The History and Trivia sections

The history section is devoid of useful information, yet contains many inaccuracies and seems like a spoof of some kind. It does no favours to either Wikipedia or to the article on the mile. It's also off-topic since there's a perfectly good article on the furlong with a much more accurate explanation of that unit's history. All that's needed in the article on the mile is a mention that there are 8 furlongs in the English/American mile. I have therefore removed this section until it can be rewritten as a proper history of the mile.

I'm also minded to remove the 'Trivia' section as it contains, well, trivia! This is also off topic and not useful in an encyclopaedia article. Chris Jefferies 23:05, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Apologies - I confused myself :-) The 'Trivia' section I had in mind is actually in the furlong article. Chris Jefferies 23:12, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] New summary text for "original mile"

Well this topic seems to attract more passion that one would think. I've rewritten the paragraph on "original mile" and tried to reflect an accurate summary of various sources, including the extensive back-and-forth on this and other talk pages. And to avoid writing an essay about it. One thing to keep in mind that the concept of a definition of measurements, in a modern sense, is a modern one; for example there were several versions of "mile" at the time of the Romans, and even the arguably most common one (1000 "paces") is inexact since different calculations from different sources yield different estimates of what exactly a "pace" (or thus, Roman foot) was. Similarly, as the "mile" traveled down the ages, various and conflicting definitions (some by tradition, some by statute) appear. Thus, even around 1600, there was a "statute mile" but at the same time there were different "miles" in use in the British Isles. But after wading through quite a bit of material, I concluded that what would most interest people was that "mile" derives from the Roman mile, and that the strange definition of 5280 dates from accomodating the "rod" for legal/commercial reasons. Feel free to comment here or on my talk page. --67.170.225.125 20:19, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Length of nautical mile

The article says that the length of nautical mile "varies depending on which meridian (or great circle) is used", though it should probably say "depending on which part of meridian (or great circle) is used". As far as I know, the length of the nautical mile depends on the latitude only. There's nothing like this in the main "Nautical mile" article. Please correct me if I'm wrong, or correct the article. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 134.161.85.71 (talk) 03:09, 4 April 2007 (UTC).

I believe you're right, except that the article is discussing the historical nautical mile, not the current international nautical mile which is defined as 1852 meters, as stated in the article. --Gerry Ashton 05:20, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Italian mile

I have just found in WP articles on "mile" in other languages, that Italian mile (1,83 km) is not equivalent to Roman mile (1,52 km). Would someone of the authors check and correct it here? --Lyonski 12:38, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Proposed WikiProject

Right now the content related to the various articles relating to measurement seems to be rather indifferently handled. This is not good, because at least 45 or so are of a great deal of importance to Wikipedia, and are even regarded as Vital articles. On that basis, I am proposing a new project at Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Proposals#Measurement to work with these articles, and the others that relate to the concepts of measurement. Any and all input in the proposed project, including indications of willingness to contribute to its work, would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your attention. John Carter 20:55, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Separate Articles

It'd be nice if there were separate articles about statute miles and nautical miles, so they could be referenced separately in Wikipedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Stepheng3 (talk • contribs) 18:32, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Nautical mile exists already Thunderbird2 (talk) 18:43, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Major revision

I have made a major revision. My goals were to

  • Provide many more references
  • Remove material for which I could not find a source
  • Emphasize that today "mile" usually means the international mile
  • Separate Notes from References so that multiple citations to specific pages in a given work could be made compactly.

Give me a moment to don my Nomex underwear. --Gerry Ashton 18:00, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mile

Where is the mile still used. I know of the USA and the UK. Where else? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.1.70.249 (talk) 03:29, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Idioms?

This seems slightly pointless, as they're sayings not specifically related to the mile, just as a distinction of difference. You wouldn't say "give a centimetre, take a kilometre" would you?Zelphi (talk) 10:07, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Places that have an altitude of one mile

This section needs deleting. It is a list of American cities with an altitude of one mile or more... and that is it. This can not be considered in anyway complete in an INTERNATIONAL encylcopedia, and if it were, the list would be miles long. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Grant Gussie (talk • contribs) 14:36, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

Why not allow the list to fill out. I'm going to add one now. It shouldn't be a problem if most or all places on the list are in America anyway, since most of the rest of the world uses the metric system and that altitude does not hold any particular significance for them. The list won't necessarily be that long either, since it should include places that are either exactly or very nearly one mile up, not anything above 5,280'. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.107.67.131 (talk) 21:22, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] origin of 5280

Why was 5,280 feet chosen as the length of a mile? 129.120.244.191 (talk) 00:19, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

One theory is that because the furlong (660 feet) was close to the stade (625 roman feet) in length (8 stadia = 1 roman mile) the English mile was made to be 8 furlongs despite the units originally having no connection. Caerwine Caer’s whines 00:45, 3 June 2008 (UTC)