In ancient Egypt, the main unit of length was the wrist ruler, that is, the length from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. Smaller units are: palm ruler, equal to 1/7 wrist ruler; Finger ruler, equal to 1/4 palm ruler. Because it was difficult for Egyptians at that time to understand the meaning of fractions, they were very useful in these small units.
People think that a part of the body can be used as a measuring tool. For example, the distance between the thumb and the ends of the middle finger (or little finger) is called 1 degree, and the distance between the two hands when the adult's arms are horizontally extended is called 1 degree. In ancient China, when surveying land, steps were often used to calculate.
Extended data:
Conversion standard of ancient common units:
1. stone: ancient unit of capacity or weight. Ten buckets and one stone, one hundred and twenty catties and one stone.
2. Beans: unit of capacity.
3, welcome: capacity unit, five barrels of a welcome.
4. Jun: weight unit, 30 kg is a jun.
5. Length: the unit of length, half a step is the length.
6. In ancient times, seven feet or eight feet were used as the unit of length.
7. shed: unit of length. Three miles was used as a shed when marching in ancient times.
8. Seek: The unit of length, with eight feet as a seek.
References:
Baidu Encyclopedia-Ancient Units of Measurement