Ah, shrinkage. Once upon a time, in the army of a country that no longer exists, each soldier was supposed to have been provided with two waffle towels, each 96

Ah, shrinkage. Once upon a time, in the army of a country that no longer exists, each soldier was supposed to have been provided with two waffle towels, each 96 cm long. Since such a towel can be easily made from a 1m long cut of fabric by tucking and sewing small margins on all four sides, the supply departments simply distributed [headcount] * metre-long rolls of fabric to the units. Then one day an inspection arrives, grabs the nearest towel (used and washed many times) and measures its length. Naturally, it's shorter than 96cm since there has been shrinkage (heh), but try explaining that to the inspecting commission! Thankfully, since it's the waffle fabric, it could be done: take a fresh new towel, count its squares, then take the used towel, count its squares, and compare the numbers.