3 ms·
It’s even worse, the US has different gallons from the rest of the world.
by dontlaugh 3y ago
It’s even worse, the US has different gallons from the rest of the world.
- sgarland 3y agoTo be fair, imperial gallons are based on 10 lbs of water (with very specific atmospheric conditions), which while a nice round number, isn’t as easy to recreate as the U.S. gallon, which is 231 cubic inches. Of course, liters make way more sense than either of these.
- nephanth 3y agoOut of curiosity, how dit it end up being that weird 231 number? Why not 230? Or a nice 200?
- sgarland 3y agoWikipedia says it was defined as cylinder of d=6” and h=7”, and they later redefined it to use the approximation of pi as 22/7. 22/7 * 7” * (7”/2)^2 = 231 in^3. Not approximately equal, precisely equal. It’s an interesting math oddity that I hope someone else will explain. Also, I’ve no idea if that history is true, but it sounds plausible.