Mile

A mile is any of several units of distance, or, in physics terminology, of length. Today, one mile (often called "statute mile") is equal to about 1609 m on land and one nautical mile to exactly 1852 m at sea and in the air. See below for the details. Abbreviations for mile are "mi" in the U.S., and "ml" and "m" in the UK.

Related Topics:
Unit - Distance - Length - M - U.S. - UK

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There are various miles, however:

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• The statute mile, or more specifically
• The international mile is the one typically meant when the word mile is used without qualification. It is defined to be precisely 1760 international yards (by definition, 0.9144 m each); it is therefore exactly 1609.344 m. It is used in the United States and the United Kingdom as part of the Imperial system of units. The international mile is equivalent to 8 furlongs, or 80 chains, or 5280 international feet.
• The U.S. survey mile is precisely equal to 5280 U.S. survey feet or 6336/3937 km or, approximately 1609.347 m. One international mile is precisely equal to 0.999 998 survey mile. The survey mile is used by the United States Public Land Survey System.
• The statute mile simply means a mile of 5280 feet, without specifying which foot is used. The term is therefore ambiguous.
• The international nautical mile is defined to be exactly 1852 m. It is used universally for aviation, naval and maritime purposes and originated from the geographical mile.
• In Norway and Sweden, a distance of 10 km is most commonly referred to as a mile, see mil.
 
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