Square Hectare
Conversion between the arcane English system of weights and measures to the sensible metric system is fun and funny. Especially since the English system has so many humorous names, like "hogshead" and "barleycorn."
My friend Jeff suggested I find out the conversion rate from hogsheads to "square" hectares. I set about to do precisely that, until realizing that a hectare is a unit of area--hence two-dimensional--while a hogshead is a unit of volume--hence three-dimensional. Which means even if there were a standard definition of precisely how large a hogshead is (it depends upon the fluid in question), the conversion just plain wouldn't work. A "square" hectare would be a four-dimensional concept. Think of it as a space 100 meters long, wide and deep that lasts for 100 meters of time. Which doesn't make any sense.
But, just for fun, I thought I'd convert a hogshead of ale into cubic meters. And the result? There are approximately 4.89 hogsheads in a cubic meter. Isn't that neat?
My friend Jeff suggested I find out the conversion rate from hogsheads to "square" hectares. I set about to do precisely that, until realizing that a hectare is a unit of area--hence two-dimensional--while a hogshead is a unit of volume--hence three-dimensional. Which means even if there were a standard definition of precisely how large a hogshead is (it depends upon the fluid in question), the conversion just plain wouldn't work. A "square" hectare would be a four-dimensional concept. Think of it as a space 100 meters long, wide and deep that lasts for 100 meters of time. Which doesn't make any sense.
But, just for fun, I thought I'd convert a hogshead of ale into cubic meters. And the result? There are approximately 4.89 hogsheads in a cubic meter. Isn't that neat?
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