Which got longer, the centimeter or the inch?

Today the ratio of inch to centimeter is exactly 2.54 to 1. When I was a youngster that was not the case. Which got longer, the centimeter or the inch?

Was the marathon run longer or shorter when I was a youngster? By how much?

2010-09-03T09:10:48Z

@The Enlightened: back then the ratio was 2.54000508 to 1 approximately.

2010-09-03T09:13:23Z

@welcome news: interesting marathon information. I thought the metric system stayed fixed, i.e. the cm did not change. What is your source?

2010-09-03T09:17:14Z

@Dr Zorro: those are interesting links, but which stayed fixed, the cm or the inch? I thought official marathons were laid out in imperial, not metric system. Did they make an adjustment when the length of the foot changed?

?2010-09-07T06:21:00Z

Favorite Answer

Neither one got longer. Prior to 1959 the inch was 2.54000508 cm. After 1959 the inch was 2.54 cm. The cm did not change, so the inch got SHORTER by 0.00000508 cm.

The marathon distance is 1661220 inches, approximately, so if measured in the new inches it got 1661220* 0.00000508 = 8.4 cm shorter.

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welcome news2010-09-03T14:06:24Z

The centimeter got longer.

The marathon was originally going to be 25 miles - in the 1908 London Olympics they laid out the course and found it was 26 miles - from Windsor castle to the stadium - and they then moved the finishing line to the position of the Royal Box - 385 yards further on.

Unless you were around pre 1908 the marathon, being in imperial measurements, has remained the same distance.

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Dr. Zorro2010-09-03T14:10:29Z

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_(length)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inch

It depends whether you ran your marathon in the UK or in the US, see above links

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Anonymous2010-09-03T13:58:00Z

What was your case back then?

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