The Rule of Twelfths is a rule of thumb for estimating the height of the tide at any time, given only the time and height of high and low water. This is important when navigating a boat or a ship in shallow water, and when launching and retrieving boats on slipways on a tidal shore.
The rule assumes that the rate of flow of a tide increases smoothly to a maximum halfway between high and low tide before smoothly decreasing to zero again and that the interval between low and high tides is approximately six hours. The rule states that in the first hour after low tide the water level will rise by one twelfth of the range, in the second hour two twelfths, and so on according to the sequence - 1:2:3:3:2:1.
Read more about Rule Of Twelfths: Example Calculation, Caveats
Famous quotes containing the words rule of and/or rule:
“Better the rule of One, whom all obey,
Than to let clamorous demagogues betray
Our freedom with the kiss of anarchy.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“The world is filled with the proverbs and acts and winkings of a base prudence, which is a devotion to matter, as if we possessed no other faculties than the palate, the nose, the touch, the eye and ear; a prudence which adores the Rule of Three, which never subscribes, which never gives, which seldom lends, and asks but one question of any project,—Will it bake bread?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)