How many feet are in a mile?

Mile is a length unit, which comes from ancient times. It was invented and widely used by Romans. In those times, one mile equaled 5000 Roman feet. The British road network was established by Romans, that's why the British began using miles as a length unit. Before miles a furlong (660 feet) was an important unit used by the British in agriculture, and it was important to relate miles to it. The British decided one mile to consist of eight furlongs, that's why there are 5280 feet in a mile (8 * 660 = 5280).

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99 Comments

Mark Thomasy

Generally speaking, when the word "mile" appears without a modifier, it means a statute mile.

Michael Merrill

Mile at sea is a nautical mile

Ron Gosling

teresab, sorry 1760 yards in a mile.

Kat

I had to dig back to early school lessons, before we went metric.

John Edward Boyle

teresab, 1760 yards, times 3 gives 5280 feet.

Jennifer Dyster

Rememberedd that from school in the early 60s . In my teens we switched to km dollars and cents litres etc . Much simpler

r peladeau

Things you forget when your country goes metric

docluci

Knew this answer

teresab

5280 is one measurement I remember all too well from imperial measures. And 1760 feet in a mile.

Effren Hernandez

Great question, however, I will take this opportunity to propose the Metric systems, much more pure, simple and to the point!

Laurel Parsons

Good guess

L Lh Adams

In about 1966,a Jr. High School science Teacher told us that the USA would be fully converted to the metric system by 1972. I remarked that it would never happen,and it hasn't!