this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2024
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xkcd

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It works because a nautical mile is based on a degree of latitude, and the Earth (e) is a circle.

https://explainxkcd.com/3023/

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Obligatory repeat of the fact that the ratio between miles and kilometres is ln(5), correct to less than 0.01% (yes, that's a percent of a percent).

The golden ratio or Fibonacci numbers are used more often for the same trick but they're off by, at best, very slightly worse than 0.5%.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)
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