Is a mile longer than a kilometer and why or why not?

Answer 1

No, a kilometre is less than a mile. It is, in fact, only 62% of a mile, as follows: 1 kilometre = 0.621371192237334 miles There is no reason for this as both units of measurement are human derived units of measurement. The metric system is arguable the better system (over the imperial system) for 3 quite valid reasons: 1. One unit of measurement for each physical quantity. No matter from which other quantities of the SI system derived, yields always the same unit. 2. Scalability by prefixes - combinations of prefix and unit make for a plethora of convenient combined units. 3. Decimal system - fractions are expressed in decimal notation. Not only makes this the notation unique, exhaustive and intuitively comparable, but also allows unit conversion without doing math - simply by shifts of the decimal point. Side note: Modern mathematics, regardless of country, use the metric system. Hope this helps, John

Answer 2

There is no reason.

The kilometre/kilometer is the decimal unit of length whereas the mile is the Imperial unit of length that was originated in England and is still used in the USA. An English scientist proposed the decimal system but France originated the decimal system of measurement around 1791. The metre was devised as 1/10 000 000 of the distance from the Equator to the North pole. It is now defined in terms of the speed of light. The mile was inherited to the British from the Romans and related to a 1000 paces.

Answer 3

That's because those are two different units of length, which arose independently of one another.