Encoded Trivia #71

About This Answer

A yard equals three feet, a measurement standardized in medieval England for fabric trade. According to historians at the Smithsonian Institution, King Henry I allegedly defined the yard as the distance from his nose to his outstretched thumb. The National Institute of Standards and Technology maintains the modern definition of the yard as exactly 0.9144 meters. Textile merchants and construction workers rely on yard measurements for materials. The three-foot yard provides a practical middle-ground measurement between inches and longer distances.