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:
“If one doubts whether Grecian valor and patriotism are not a fiction of the poets, he may go to Athens and see still upon the walls of the temple of Minerva the circular marks made by the shields taken from the enemy in the Persian war, which were suspended there. We have not far to seek for living and unquestionable evidence. The very dust takes shape and confirms some story which we had read.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“My mother ... believed fiction gave one an unrealistic view of the world. Once she caught me reading a novel and chastised me: “Never let me catch you doing that again, remember what happened to Emma Bovary.””
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)