can someone tell why there is a difference between a nautical mile and a statute mile?

Question

I know they are different in length, but why are they different?

Answer 1

why they are different? as many stated, the nautical mile is based upon a known, measurable scientific fact; the circumference of the earth.

a mile, now, has been based upon lots of different, changeable things over the millenia........mile comes from mille, Latin for a thousand, or the distance a Roman Legion would cover in 1000 steps,,,,,see how far back this goes?
we've had feet and yards based on the anatomy of kings, distances from one town to another, and of course, the Roman legions as above....we eventually settled on 5280 feet to a mile out of necessity and people being tired of changing units every 100 years

Answer 2

A nautical mile is based on the circumference of the planet Earth. If you were to cut the Earth in half at the equator, you could pick up one of the halves and look at the equator as a circle. You could divide that circle into 360 degrees. You could then divide a degree into 60 minutes. A minute of arc on the planet Earth is 1 nautical mile. This unit of measurement is used by all nations for air and sea travel.

A knot is a unit of measure for speed. If you are traveling at a speed of 1 nautical mile per hour, you are said to be traveling at a speed of 1 knot.

The above answer is wrong. A degree does not equal a mile in latitude or longitude. A minute of latitude equals 1 nautical mile and a minute of longitude only at the equator equals 1 nautical mile. This is because lines of latitude are parallel and lines of longitude converge at the poles. 60 minutes of latitude would equal 60 miles.

Answer 3

A nautical mile is one minute of latitude or longitude measured at the equator. (longitude lines are not parallel)
It is 1.15 statute miles. A knot is 1 nautical mile/hour

Answer 4

A nautical mile is 6076.1155 feet
A statute mile is 5280 feet.

Answer 5

nautical mile also called sea mile is used for navigation. It is a unit of lenght defined as 1852 meters which is approx equal to 6076.115 ft or 1105078 statute miles.

statute mile is the imperial unit of lenght which is equal to 5280 ft and is commonly used by rowers.

Answer 6

a nautical mile is the area you bypass on earth once you progression by using a million 2nd of arc (think of of this as moving a million/sixtieth of a level around the equator) nautical miles are easier to calculate bearings with

Answer 7

Because a nautical mile is the same distance as a degree, as in longitude and latitude. So if you go one nautical mile north you are going one degree latitude north.