The orignal linked piece is a clearer read/explanation with fewer seo/ads:
<a href="https://www.mathsisfun.com/measure/estimate-distance.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.mathsisfun.com/measure/estimate-distance.html</a>
Some other basic units of measure I learnt in the military that are generally useful.
Your index finger held up arm outstretched covers 10 meters at 1km.
Two fingers together (index + middle) is 20-30 meters,
Your closed fist edge to edge is about 50m,
and your open hand from tip of thumb to tip of little finger is about 150 meters.<p>The method in the link only gives you one measure, your thumb, where as having a few different scales means you can do a bit of math for closer or further away objects. And it's handy to be able to know the distance between two places if you know the distance to one object.
So for the other 95% of the world, had someone for the metric version?<p>Edit. Got it <a href="https://www.mathsisfun.com/measure/estimate-distance.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.mathsisfun.com/measure/estimate-distance.html</a>
Similarly you can estimate the time before sunset using your body.<p>Hold out your arm and see how many fingers fit between the bottom of the sun and the horizon.<p>Each finger is about 15 minutes.
"The distance from your eyes to your thumb is *about 10 times* the distance between your eyes."<p>Which means you could calibrate this formula using your own body. Let's find the exact value for my eye/arm ratio!<p>EDIT For me it's about 12.5 ratio. I'm 187cm tall.
This is essentially how drawing with comparative measurement works. Along with sight-size and grids, intentionally practicing this technique helps with learning to see the true proportions of shapes, and therefore to also make more accurate marks, whether drawing from life or imagination. It's one of the key training methods for visual art and a major missing link for many self-taught artists.<p>If you grind out studies of the Bargue plates - or really, any pictures with some detail and complexity, though Bargue's system is designed to gradually increase in difficulty - you will become very good at estimating distances and angles. It doesn't solve all drawing problems, but it makes them much easier.
That was the most useful thing I have ever read on LifeHacker. Even more useful than their current top article, “8 Zoo Animals That Might Escape One Day (and How to Protect Yourself).”
That works for the car in:<p>> <a href="https://www.mathsisfun.com/measure/estimate-distance.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.mathsisfun.com/measure/estimate-distance.html</a><p>But how about the tree?<p>Also, let's say you are walking towards a city and you see its skyline. You don't know anything about the buildings (how tall or wide they are). How far away is the city?
I thought it would ivolve estimating an arc-tan by memory. Thankfully it’s just a geometric feature that the distance to the thumb is ~10 times the distance between the eyes.