In the novel by Mark Twain "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" it was entrusted to main character to paint "thirty yards of a wooden fence". To estimate the volume of the work which is coming the hero, the domestic reader needs to know a ratio between yard and meter.
The yard is the unit of measure of length which is a part of the system of the English measures. Use it not only in Great Britain, but also in the USA and other English-speaking countries In particular, on the English fleet in yards calculate distances when using weapon. The yard has a certain ratio with other English linear measures. The yard is equal to 3 feet or 36 English inches.
Yard history
The name of this unit of measure comes from an ancient Anglo-Saxon word which designated the direct branch or a core intended for measurement of length.
The yard as a linear measure appeared in the X century. It was entered by the English king Edgar (959-975), having determined his size very simply – proceeding from the sizes of own body. The yard equaled to distance between a tip of a middle finger of a hand of the monarch extended aside and a tip of his nose. On the one hand, it was convenient, but as soon as the throne was occupied by the new king, the size of yard had to be changed. The younger son of William the Conqueror king Henry I (1068-1135) decided to finish similar confusion once and for all. He established the constant length of yard. That from now on anybody of citizens had no doubts in this respect, the king even disposed to make a standard of an elm. There is a legend that this monarch had a sword length precisely one yard. However, despite all efforts of Henry I, yard size changed repeatedly subsequently.
Modern yard
The modern standard of yard represents result of a compromise. In 1959 the states where this unit of measure – Great Britain, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Canada – is applied established the so-called "international yard". Its length is 0.9144 m. Such yard is used now. For convenience of calculations its length is quite often rounded to 914 cm (0.914 m). To transfer yards of yards to 0.914. For example, 2 yards are 1.829 m (about 1 m 83 cm), and 10 yards – 9.144 m (9 m 14 cm), and "30 yards of a wooden fence" which Tom Sawyer – 27.432 m (about 27 m 43 cm) had to paint. For best accuracy calculations it is possible to multiply also by more exact size of yard – 0.9144, but such specification will not give special practical value. To make the return operation – to transfer meters to yards – it is necessary to divide the number of meters into 0.914. For example, 20 m are about 21 m 88 cm.