Deborah, this may add to the confusion but here are a few metric conversions of the 'Old Imperial Lengths & Areas' in case you wanted to make a table as Pat suggested. Length: Inch [2.54 cm] Link = 7.92 inches [20.116 cm] (see Chain for explanation) Foot = 12 inches [30.48 cm] Yard = 3 feet [91.44 cm] Rod, Pole or Perch = 25 links = 5œ yards [about 5 metres] Chain = 22 yards = 66 feet = 100 Links [length of a cricket wicket, about 20 metres] Furlong = 10 chains = 220 yards [length of a furrow, about 200 metres] Mile = 8 furlongs = 1760 yards = 5280 feet [a thousand Roman paces (a Roman 'pace' was actually 2 paces: left, right) – about 1600 metres] Area: Sq foot = 144 sq inches Sq yard = 9 sq feet = 1296 sq inches [0.836 sq metre] Sq Pole = 30Œ sq yards [often simply referred to as a Pole or Perch in land measurement] Rood = Œ acre = 1,210 sq yards = 40 sq poles Acre = 4 roods = 10 sq chains = 4840 sq yards = Statute acre [0.40 hectare] [eg. a good-sized football pitch – but note that a Customary (or Saxon) acre was different, and that Scottish and Irish acres were different again] Virgate = 30 acres [but varied in different districts - also called yardland] Hide = 4 virgates [but really denoted the amount of land sufficient to support a family, and varied according to the locality or quality of the land] Sq mile = 640 acres [259 hectares = 2.59 Sq Km] ............................ I wouldn't memorize all this as there won't be a test !! --- Bob === Robert Neil Chatham-Kent, ON rneil@sympatico.ca