Because maps show horizontal distance. If you’re drawing on a contour map to decide where to build a road, and you’re willing to accept a 20% grade, then the road will cross 100-ft contour lines every 500 ft scaled off the map, not every 510 ft.
That’s even worse, though. A “single axel” is 1 and a half rotations, a “double axel” is 2 and a half, and a “triple axel” is 3 and a half.
I suspect most of the other measurements and formulae here are made up by the posters. Some even invented their own letters. I am, however, confident that the plural of funicula is funiculi, (“Sing it loud!”) while the plural of furuncle is carbuncle, but the pain increases geometrically, not arithmetically.
nm, zombie
Thanks for the earworm. For an Italian, talk of funicular invariably starts that song playing… Jamme, jamme,’ncoppa jamme jà