# How Long Is A Piece Of String?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 2, 2006, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-a-piece-of-string/374930 "2006-10-02T04:50:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-a-piece-of-string/374930/41 "2006-10-02T16:26:23Z")
How long is a piece of string? ```auto This ... Long ``` ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-a-piece-of-string/374930/42 "2006-10-02T16:29:49Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Reminds me of my dad’s story about when he was at school, and his schoolmate went to the bathroom while they were explaining representative algebra. When he returned, he heard the teacher say “and X is equal to 5”. Which fact he retained for every equation in which he encountered X for the next two years, and eventually flunked math. [/QUOTE] Well, duh, even the _Romans_ knew that X=10, not 5. I bet your dad’s friend flunked Latin, too! ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-a-piece-of-string/374930/43 "2006-10-02T17:33:17Z")
Let S = the length of the string. Therefore the answer is S. Q.E.D. ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-a-piece-of-string/374930/44 "2006-10-02T18:18:02Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] I don’t know if this helps, but on the offchance… Could I just point out that one shaftment is equal to a little over 1.5 fists, or just over one tenth of a goad. [/QUOTE] Unless you’re talking about an ancient shaftment, which is 1.65 fists. Fun online conversion calculator [here](http://www.onlineconversion.com/). ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-a-piece-of-string/374930/45 "2006-10-02T18:22:29Z")
I’m a bit pessimistic. I was thinking, “How short is a piece of string?” ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-a-piece-of-string/374930/46 "2006-10-02T18:41:29Z")
My father always defined “piece of string” as “long enough to use as a miscellaneous camping tent tie.” Anything else, was scrapped and thrown away. It works for me. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-a-piece-of-string/374930/47 "2006-10-02T21:45:52Z")
[Approximately 1.62\*10[sup]-35[/sup] meters](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=sqrt%28hbar*G%2Fc%5E3%29&btnG=Search). ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-a-piece-of-string/374930/48 "2006-10-02T22:12:45Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] How long is a piece of string? ```auto This ... Long ``` [/QUOTE] But it is a few degrees off center, and out of round at that. Too long for a micrometer, too short for a theodolite to measure. ---
**Author:** ![t-mobileguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@t-mobileguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-mobileguy)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-a-piece-of-string/374930/49 "2006-10-03T05:06:48Z")
If I may ask a question. I think what most people want to know is how long is a piece of string if it’s on a treadmill? Other than that I got nothing ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-a-piece-of-string/374930/50 "2006-10-03T05:10:05Z")
Arrange the string in a circle, measure the diameter (D) of the circle. Your string is Pi x D Long. True for all string, if I remember my High School Geometry right. ---
**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-a-piece-of-string/374930/51 "2006-10-03T07:29:40Z")
Guys, it’s not the length that matters, it’s the width. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-a-piece-of-string/374930.md?page=2)