KM vs Miles

[Dogtrousers]

An interesting fact is that the acceleration due to gravity is 9.81 metres/sec/sec and pi squared is 9.87. Coincidence?

Actually not. There was at one time a standard to use the length of a pendulum with a period of 2s. as a reference length. That's independent of the mass of the pendulum and amplitude so a good candidate for standard length, right? Well, actually not, as there's a small error so it's good, but not good enough. The metre as finally chosen was very close to that of a seconds pendulum, but not quite the same. And this is what makes g almost equal to pi squared.

 

[Punkawallah]

Fun fact. The metric meter is almost exactly half of their traditional ‘toise’.
“Oi! Marcel! Wot’s this ‘meter’ thingy?”
“No probs, Giles me old mucker - s’just ‘arf a Toise, innit?”