Weather Eye on Figures

In Laura Lee’s meteorological take on the role of the weather and climate in changing the course of history, “Blame it on the Rain” she talks of a chapter in Greek history during which the Persians chased the Greek navy into a narrow strait across which brisk winds roared that saved the Greeks from their fate.

Puzzlingly, she gives the width of this channel at its narrowest point to five significant figures - 1,371.6 metres. Does that not imply this channel was measured to an accuracy of one centimetre in every 1000? That’s an awfully precise value isn’t it? Who did the measuring and who recorded it while those winds roared and the battle was fought, remember this was 1000 years BC so they hadn’t even invented the centimetre yet.

Could it be that the sub-editor read a value in feet and inches and decided to do a quick conversion using the celebrated feet to metres conversion factor of 0.3048?

It’s possible. 1,371.6 metres comes out at 4500 feet precisely according to onlineconversion.com That site and those conversion factors have a lot to answer for!!!