X-Message-Number: 15186
Date: Mon, 25 Dec 2000 20:46:25 -0800
From: Lee Corbin <>
Subject: From Texas to Australia

A frequently repeated error that also cropped up
on this list is to state that there is room in
Texas for each person on Earth to be given a 1/4
acre plot of land. But doing the math belies this:

6 billion * 1/4 acre / 640 acres/mile yields 2.3
million square miles.

Texas has an area approximately ten times too
small.  To make the point, Australia with an
area of 2.9 million square miles could be used. 

(Or if you assume 4 people per family on the
average, then Libya suffices.)

Lee Corbin

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=15186