What is a Stone?

Date: 11/11/2001 at 17:10:58
From: Julie
Subject: English Weight Measurements

Can you tell me what a stone in English measurement is equal to in  
pounds?

Thank you.

Date: 11/11/2001 at 17:41:27
From: Doctor Sarah
Subject: Re: English Weight Measurements

Hi Julie - thanks for writing to Dr. Math.

A good place to look up units is Russ Rowlett's _How Many? A 
Dictionary of Units of Measurement_.  See:

   http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/dictS.html   

Here's what it says:

stone (st)

a traditional British unit of weight, rarely used in the U.S. 
Originally the stone varied in size, both from place to place and 
according to the nature of the item being weighed. A stone of sugar 
was traditionally 8 pounds, while a stone of wool could be as much as 
24 pounds. Eventually the stone was standardized at 14 pounds 
avoirdupois or approximately 6.35029 kilograms - a convenient size 
because it makes the stone equal to exactly 1/2 quarter or 1/8 
hundredweight. Today the stone is used mostly for stating the weight 
of persons or animals. No -s is added for the plural.


- Doctor Sarah, The Math Forum
  http://mathforum.org/dr.math/