"Pat Norton" wrote in message
...
Gene Nygaard wrote
The problem is comparing two imperial to

1853 m might actually be nearer to the true value than 1853.172 m
5. Given that the true value at any point varies by tens of metres,
they may have rejected the idea of maintaining mm precision. The
question then becomes why did they abandon the precise relationship
with the knot.

Of course, only an technocrat would want to make mm measurements over a
minute of arc. It is as though Gene's mother is also his aunt.