Nautical speed was once measured by throwing a rope into the water from the ship. The rope had knots every 47 ft 3 in, and its wedge-shaped end would "grab" the water. The speed was the number of rope knots that went into the water while a 28-second hourglass ran down. A nautical mile is about 6076 feet. What is the ratio of a nautical mile to the length of the rope between knots?

Question

mathstudent55 · Answer

Use 6076 ft for a nautical mile.
You have the distance between knots as 4t ft 3 in.
Convert that to ft.
Then divide the number of ft of a nautical mile by the number of feet between knots.