What are Advantages and Disadvantages of a cubit
What are Advantages and Disadvantages of a cubit
Cubit, unit of linear measure used by many ancient and medieval peoples. It may have originated in Egypt about 3000 BC; it thereafter became ubiquitous in the ancient world. The cubit, generally taken as equal to 18 inches (457 mm), was based on the length of the arm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger and was considered the equivalent of 6 palms or 2 spans. In some ancient cultures it was as long as 21 inches (531 mm).
The cubit can certainly be used as a standard unit but it has to be defined relative to other units. This would not be difficult to do.
The world has mostly decided to use the metric system as its common worldwide standard. And that is a very good thing because other systems that are still used in parts of the world are now defined relative to the metric system. And that means it is very easy to convert and know that you are getting the quantity you want.
For example, while the US system of feet, miles, cups, quarts and American pounds are still widely used in the US, these units today are in fact defined by the metric standard. An inch in the American system is now defined to be exactly 2.54 centimeters. The centimeter is based on the real ultimate standard, which is the meter. Thus the inch is defined exactly by a decimal fraction of a meter.
The cubit was used in an historic era when it was important to define the length known as a cubit with extreme precision. It was supposed to be “about” the length of and someone’s forearm. So, while the typical length of an adult human’s forearm is “about” 18 inches, it varies quite a bit.
If we defined the cubit to be exactly 18 inches, then the cubit would have a standard definition that ties it back to the meter which is known with great precision. The cubit would be:
cubit = 18 inches = (18 inches x 2.54 inches/centimeter = 45.72 centimeters = 0.5472 meters.
Of course there’s no real need to us the cubit since we have many other length units to use that are all known with great precision. The only time cubits are really used is when we are translating ancient texts and we want to know approximately how long was something described a thousand years ago.
The cubit can certainly be used as a standard unit but it has to be defined relative to other units. This would not be difficult to do.
The world has mostly decided to use the metric system as its common worldwide standard. And that is a very good thing because other systems that are still used in parts of the world are now defined relative to the metric system. And that means it is very easy to convert and know that you are getting the quantity you want.
For example, while the US system of feet, miles, cups, quarts and American pounds are still widely used in the US, these units today are in fact defined by the metric standard. An inch in the American system is now defined to be exactly 2.54 centimeters. The centimeter is based on the real ultimate standard, which is the meter. Thus the inch is defined exactly by a decimal fraction of a meter.
The cubit was used in an historic era when it was important to define the length known as a cubit with extreme precision. It was supposed to be “about” the length of and someone’s forearm. So, while the typical length of an adult human’s forearm is “about” 18 inches, it varies quite a bit.
If we defined the cubit to be exactly 18 inches, then the cubit would have a standard definition that ties it back to the meter which is known with great precision. The cubit would be:
cubit = 18 inches = (18 inches x 2.54 inches/centimeter = 45.72 centimeters = 0.5472 meters.
Of course there’s no real need to us the cubit since we have many other length units to use that are all known with great precision. The only time cubits are really used is when we are translating ancient texts and we want to know approximately how long was something described a thousand years ago.
