US finally giving boot to official foot measurement
The United States is abandoning the definition of the foot used to measure big things and replacing it with the so-called international footBy SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science WriterDecember 14, 2019, 2:04 PM4 min readWASHINGTON -- Change is afoot for the official measuring stick used to size up big places in America. The reason? There are actually two different definitions of the 12-inch measurement known as a foot. Some land surveyors use what’s known as the U.S. survey foot. Others use the definition that’s more accepted by the broader world: the international foot. The difference between them is so tiny that you can’t see it with the naked eye on a 12-inch ruler. But over big distances, it matters. So, to reduce the chance for errors and confusion, the federal government has announced it’s ...
