XPost: alt.usage.english   
   From: naddy@mips.inka.de   
      
   I'm sorry, I don't know where to post this.  I'm crossposting to   
   alt.usage.english, because statute miles as a unit mostly afflict   
   the English-speaking world.   
      
   So you want to convert between miles and kilometers.  The conversion   
   factor is... uh...  A 40-year-old calculator book provides a useful   
   tip:  Unless you're designing a space probe, you can use ln(5).   
      
   WHAT?   
      
   Yes, the natural logrithm of 5 approximates the conversion factor   
   between miles and kilometers; specifically one mile is about ln(5)   
   kilometers.  It's accurate to four digits.   
      
   If nothing else, it's faster to type on a calculator.   
      
   I think that's hysterical.   
      
   --   
   Christian "naddy" Weisgerber                          naddy@mips.inka.de   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)