Additional Math Pages & Resources

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Creative Units of Measure, Part II

Today I found a really cool site called The Size of Wales. And no, I didn't leave out the haich by mistake. 

I suppose this website makes the most sense to people in the UK, but those of us in the rest of the world can also have a chuckle. The creator made a calculator that converts your data into units that make sense to the average citizen.

If you can't get these jokes, then you can shift to a related site, called The Size of Texas.

Howdee y'all. If you are based in the USA, the chances are that the concept of an area the size of Wales will be pretty darned meaningless. Hence this special U.S. version of the Wales-o-meter.

But I will leave it to you to find that!

Here are his units
  • area = size of Wales (for large objects) or Whales (smaller objects) or Prince of Wales (smallest objects)
  • height = Nelson's column (or Big Ben's tower)
  • length = a London bus (or length of the Thames river)
  • volume = Olympic swimming pool (or Royal Albert Hall)
  • weight = an African elephant

NOTE: After a recent restoration, Nelson's column was found to be about 15 feet shorter than it was long thought to be.

For comparison purposes, California is 20 times larger than Wales, and San Diego county is a bit more than half the size of Wales. In case you wanted real units, Wales is roughly 8,000 square miles. Here's a map of Wales, if you don't know what and where I am talking about! [click for a larger view]
If you need still more information, here's another look at WALES relative to the rest of the British Isles.
I have been to Wales myself - about 5 times I think. In case you didn't know, Wales is the site of Garth Hill, made famous in the movie called The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain. I don't want to spoil the story for you, but it's a movie well worth seeing.

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