In Fiction
When a measure is converted to another unit in a fiction work like a novel or film, the value often loses meaning (as in numerology) or gets too many significant digits ("40 miles" turns into "64 km"). For this reason, authors sometimes choose numbers that can be converted easily. Most notably, distances measured in miles often begin with 3 or 5, so the value converted to km also has one significant digit (5 or 8).
Read more about this topic: Conversion Of Units
Famous quotes containing the word fiction:
“A predilection for genre fiction is symptomatic of a kind of arrested development.”
—Thomas M. Disch (b. 1940)
“It seems that the fiction writer has a revolting attachment to the poor, for even when he writes about the rich, he is more concerned with what they lack than with what they have.”
—Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964)