An easier method takes advantage of Parallax and Anatomy. Your eyes are 1/10 the distance apart as the length of your arm. so standing squarely before your target, and hold out your thumb directly in front of you, and look at it alternately from each eye, your thumb will appear to move 1/10th the distance from left to right as your reference object is from where you stand. So if your reference object is a 15ft car length and the edge of your thumb appears to move 5 car lengths from eye to eye (60ft), 10x60= you are standing 600ft away. the math is simpler this way.
My thumbs or fingers don't quite work but I did manage to get an excellent calibration of my own. I have to lie on my back and it is better done alone but it is tremendously satisfying. What a great tip!
I use my Hand and Index finger to find the distance. It's easy.. First I hold the Laser Emitting Distance Finder in my Right Hand.. and then using my Index finger I press the Button. The laser beam shoots towards the target and bounces back and I get an Exact Reading of the distance on my Laser Range Finding Meter.. :) Easy Peazy.. :)
Very important to measure your Arm & Thumb. I was using a A/T ratio of 30, stated as standard on a web site; but my guestimates were way off compared to more accurate measurements.
Yes, it's important to calibrate for your own dimensions. However, the value quoted in the video for my (arm length):(thumb width) ratio is 20, not 30. There's nothing 'standard' about my value, but I think that most people will be closer to 20 than to 30.
Seems to be a nearly universal 10:1 ratio.....do the same but peer through one eye at your elevated thumb while looking at a far-away object...and then close that one-eye and open the other one. The amount your thumb appears to "jump" horizontally at distance is sbout 1/10 the actual distance away. This seems to work as the normal human eye spacing between pupils, is about 66mm (+/-)....and the arm's length distance holding up your thumb is about 660mm away from your eye.... hence 10:1. Of course every person is built differently but in most cases these 2 dimensions seem to truncate to a nearly universal 10:1 ratio......this method afterall is an "estimation" of distance.
I use a more simple technique: I look at the object in the distance and think: that object is so freaking far away from me. Or - this object is not so much far away. And you know, every time I double check the distance approaching the object, I am always so amazed: my calculations never failed.😂
But that won't work to measure height... unless the enemy have rearranged your eyeballs to be one above the other, in which case call "Medic". A fist is 10° (about 180 mils) high with top of thumb aligned on a reference point (but with thumb up, 20°, enough obstacle clearance for a C-130 LZ).
Yes, for small angles, theta is almost exactly equal to tan theta. This method is only ever approximate, because of the imprecision in definitions of width of thumb and length of arm. However, since the width of the thumb is (for most people) much smaller than the length of the arm, the small angle approximation is very good, so it doesn't contribute appreciably to the imprecision.
Interesting, but other from human and building, as we have known how tall they are, I think further application of this method need to work on more, like how to measure tree height with you thumb or so
The man is 1.8 m tall, not 1.8 mm tall. I guessed that the man was 1.8 m, because, within a 10% error, most men are. So: The man is 1.8 m at 360 m, so an angle of 1/20 radians The thumb is 27 mm at 540 mm, so an angle of 1/20 radians In the image at about 1:00, we can see that the two angles are the same.
If you don't know _some_ dimension of the object you're ranging, you can't estimate how far away it is. But many things are standard sizes such as: animal or human height/width, doors/windows, shipping containers, building floors, traffic signs, electric poles, oil drums, etc..
If you can't estimate the size of anything, you're sunk. There's no visual difference between a 1m-tall dropbear that's 100m away from you and a 10m-tall dropbear that's 1km away.
If you know trigonometry or angles(mathematicians measure angles in radians) in general you will realise it's all ratios to begin with you may be more familiar with degrees which can be converted to radians using this this 360=2pi
How do you do it if the object i am trying to find my distance from appears less than the width of my thumb. Feel like I am being stupid but can’t get it.
Suppose that (like me) your thumb is 20 times further from your eye (we call this L) than your thumb's width (we call this w). So for you distance = (L/w)*height = 20 times height for an object that looks as big as your thumb. You see that a one metre object is half a thumb width. Then you say that a full thumb width at that distance is two metres tall. Use 2m for the height instead of one. (Alternatively: If the object looks half as big as your thumb, then w is half as big, so you have distance = 40 times height. Or, look at the calculation I did for the building: a 4m story looks like (1/3.5)thumbs, so I said distance = height * 3.5 * 20 = 280 m)
seemed cool but sux that you gotta know the height of the object at a distance.. i was hoping more for how to use my location to determine how tall they are compared to my thumb.. not how far from me they are..
Basically whoever got the longest arms and skinniest thumbs should be your long distance guy. Whoever’s got the shortest arms and fastest thumbs should be your short range guy. Whoever is cross eyed should make the coffee
ya Allah taqdirkanlah sniper.mereka akan menghadapi masalah dn keusakaran berfikir kerana terkesan dgn bunyi berdesing dalam tempoh yg sgt.lama menyebabkan mereka.ini ibarat.manusia yg sedang mabuk. Dn tidak.mampu berfikir secara.tetap
I was interested for almost 24 seconds and then he had to whip out the pen and paper and *M A T H S* :( edit: should have searched "way to measures distance without too much math"
To use this very simple "rule of thumb" first take a few years of college trigonometry, make sure to have a note book and calculator, and hope you never need to use it because by the time you figure out the distance you'll be too confused to care what the distance is.
If you have a wide thumb, but still want to use the value of 20 (because it's easy to multiply by 20), then find some other dimension that is about 20 times smaller than the length eye to hand. For instance, 20 might work for your thumbnail.
This is so much simpler when adopting the military version of using mils to measure angles rather than degrees - 6400 mils in a full circle When using mils the subtension rule is 1 mil equals 1 meter at 1,000 meters
wait... the "rule of thumb" DOES NOT derive from the old custom of beating your wife with a stick no larger in diameter than your thumb? well... i completely did not understand that saying
To explain how it works, you have to use mathematics. If you just want to use the rule, multiply the size of the thing that your thumb covers by 20 and that's the distance to it.
Such sloppy handwriting, mixing printing with cursive. Please slow down and write this stuff out clearly. Other people are trying to interpret your chicken scratches.
This is WHY Physicists are always Full of Crap! The EASY WAY (I was taught this in USAF Pilots Survival Class), so I didn't invent it and NEITHER DID THIS Quack Phys! - You want to know a distance to a point without a Field Compass or any other device (including Algebra). 1) Face that point, and hold out your arm (Right or Left) and hand STRAIGHT with your Thumb Up and One of your eyes closed. NOTE THE POINT in the distance that your Thumb OBSCURES. Then Open your OTHER EYE and close the first one, now NOTE THAT the position your thumb covers is DIFFERENT, and Note that Point. THIS IS CALLED "PARALLAX". Now estimate that distance between the two NOTED POINTS by using the width of Trees, Houses, Cars (length), or other familiar landmarks. 3) Take that ESTIMATED width between the TWO THUMB POINTS and ADD A ZERO (0). So, if the estimated width was 30 (American) feet, the distance away is 300 FEET! Estimated Width is 100 feet, then the distance is 1000 Feet away. (Same works with that stupid Metric system). You'd be surprised to find, UNLESS YOU'RE A DUNCE at estimating, you will be within 10% CORRECT!! BTW ---- THIS IS CALLED THE ORIGINAL "Rule of Thumb" as used in Ancient Europe some 2,000 years ago, INCLUDING by the Roman Army; our ancestors were pretty damn smart (unlike Australian Physicists!) (Me - PhD. Evolutionary Paleontologist, Univ of Chicago, USAF Capt. ret. 20th SOS, 27th Spl Ops Wing, 20 years, Nam 1970-73)
![ILLSLICK - KILLSHOT REMIX [FULL VERSION]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RIK8RrqIAzE/mqdefault.jpg)
"Calibrate your instruments" I love that
This is the most crystal clear tutorial that I have seen. Thanks.
An easier method takes advantage of Parallax and Anatomy.
Your eyes are 1/10 the distance apart as the length of your arm.
so standing squarely before your target, and hold out your thumb directly in front of you, and look at it alternately from each eye, your thumb will appear to move 1/10th the distance from left to right as your reference object is from where you stand.
So if your reference object is a 15ft car length and the edge of your thumb appears to move 5 car lengths from eye to eye (60ft), 10x60= you are standing 600ft away.
the math is simpler this way.
They teach this method in the artillery schools.
I still don’t get it
Wouldn’t it be 750ft away?
@@adm5618 Yes, he accidentally got it wrong but he explained this in 8 seconds of reading
Bro how did get this value 1/20.
I love it how the wizard smirks @ 1:28 as he’s giving the answer. He knows only a few was able to follow him till the end.
My thumbs or fingers don't quite work but I did manage to get an excellent calibration of my own. I have to lie on my back and it is better done alone but it is tremendously satisfying. What a great tip!
Underrated comment.
This is excellent. I'm tired of people saying the distance is 500 yards when it is actually just over 200 yards. Thanks!
Simply brilliant! I never even thought of that obvious radian relation.
I'm not intelligent enough to know what any of those numbers meant, but I immediately felt smarter from watching it
Write it out, without the video, it will all be MATH CLEARLY understood
😂
I tapped out at 31 seconds.
I use my Hand and Index finger to find the distance. It's easy.. First I hold the Laser Emitting Distance Finder in my Right Hand.. and then using my Index finger I press the Button. The laser beam shoots towards the target and bounces back and I get an Exact Reading of the distance on my Laser Range Finding Meter.. :) Easy Peazy.. :)
An awesome trick life saver trick on wildlife!
Very important to measure your Arm & Thumb.
I was using a A/T ratio of 30, stated as standard on a web site; but my guestimates were way off compared to more accurate measurements.
Yes, it's important to calibrate for your own dimensions. However, the value quoted in the video for my (arm length):(thumb width) ratio is 20, not 30. There's nothing 'standard' about my value, but I think that most people will be closer to 20 than to 30.
Instead of the Rule of Thumb, we could even call it the “Ruler of Thumb!”
I’ve used, “Down there a bit,” and that seems to work well enough.
Seems to be a nearly universal 10:1 ratio.....do the same but peer through one eye at your elevated thumb while looking at a far-away object...and then close that one-eye and open the other one. The amount your thumb appears to "jump" horizontally at distance is sbout 1/10 the actual distance away. This seems to work as the normal human eye spacing between pupils, is about 66mm (+/-)....and the arm's length distance holding up your thumb is about 660mm away from your eye.... hence 10:1. Of course every person is built differently but in most cases these 2 dimensions seem to truncate to a nearly universal 10:1 ratio......this method afterall is an "estimation" of distance.
Very clever! Thank you for a clear tutorial.
Problem is all these methods rely on knowing the height of the refernce object. A human or known object is fine but what if yor object is unknown?
If the object is close (e.g. less than a metre) you can use parallax - the slightly different views you get from each eye.
I use a more simple technique: I look at the object in the distance and think: that object is so freaking far away from me. Or - this object is not so much far away. And you know, every time I double check the distance approaching the object, I am always so amazed: my calculations never failed.😂
Really amazing. I need to work with this. Thank you!
Incredibly practical, thanks a lot
But that won't work to measure height... unless the enemy have rearranged your eyeballs to be one above the other, in which case call "Medic".
A fist is 10° (about 180 mils) high with top of thumb aligned on a reference point (but with thumb up, 20°, enough obstacle clearance for a C-130 LZ).
Can you explain the hand to mil readings? I’ve been trying to find the hand techniques for the longest. Or can you point me to a video explaining it
is he using small angle approx in the first step?W over L should be tangent of theta right?
Yes, for small angles, theta is almost exactly equal to tan theta. This method is only ever approximate, because of the imprecision in definitions of width of thumb and length of arm. However, since the width of the thumb is (for most people) much smaller than the length of the arm, the small angle approximation is very good, so it doesn't contribute appreciably to the imprecision.
And if I do not have paper and pen to make all this calculations?
Interesting, but other from human and building, as we have known how tall they are, I think further application of this method need to work on more, like how to measure tree height with you thumb or so
u r great, sir.i wish if u were my school teacher. much love
This should be in every bow hunters pocket
You have made a very simple rule of thumb very different to understand.
How is the height 1.8mm if it’s the same width as your thumb and your thumb is 27mm?? How did you get the height??
The man is 1.8 m tall, not 1.8 mm tall. I guessed that the man was 1.8 m, because, within a 10% error, most men are. So:
The man is 1.8 m at 360 m, so an angle of 1/20 radians
The thumb is 27 mm at 540 mm, so an angle of 1/20 radians
In the image at about 1:00, we can see that the two angles are the same.
O.k. but what if you dont know the hight of the storeys and the distance ?
If you don't know _some_ dimension of the object you're ranging, you can't estimate how far away it is.
But many things are standard sizes such as: animal or human height/width, doors/windows, shipping containers, building floors, traffic signs, electric poles, oil drums, etc..
If you can't estimate the size of anything, you're sunk. There's no visual difference between a 1m-tall dropbear that's 100m away from you and a 10m-tall dropbear that's 1km away.
Great explanation!
Radians? It's all about ratio.
A:B::C:D
a/b=c/d
a=bc/d
More accurate if one were to use a notched stick or bone instead of the thumb 👍
If you know trigonometry or angles(mathematicians measure angles in radians) in general you will realise it's all ratios to begin with you may be more familiar with degrees which can be converted to radians using this this 360=2pi
How do you do it if the object i am trying to find my distance from appears less than the width of my thumb. Feel like I am being stupid but can’t get it.
Suppose that (like me) your thumb is 20 times further from your eye (we call this L) than your thumb's width (we call this w). So for you
distance = (L/w)*height = 20 times height for an object that looks as big as your thumb.
You see that a one metre object is half a thumb width. Then you say that a full thumb width at that distance is two metres tall. Use 2m for the height instead of one.
(Alternatively: If the object looks half as big as your thumb, then w is half as big, so you have distance = 40 times height.
Or, look at the calculation I did for the building: a 4m story looks like (1/3.5)thumbs, so I said
distance = height * 3.5 * 20 = 280 m)
Game changer! Thanks so much!
Yeh it's always been that way
seemed cool but sux that you gotta know the height of the object at a distance.. i was hoping more for how to use my location to determine how tall they are compared to my thumb.. not how far from me they are..
If you know the distance, then you can use the same method to determine the height. But if you only know the angle, you need one of the other data.
@@JoeWolfe Thanks! :)
@@gilbertoquiroz-rea8194 quantum theory is common sense to me.. can you explain more on black box radiation and why if failed initially please
Basically whoever got the longest arms and skinniest thumbs should be your long distance guy.
Whoever’s got the shortest arms and fastest thumbs should be your short range guy.
Whoever is cross eyed should make the coffee
@@adm5618 life doesnt work like that.. all humans are 7.5 heads in length proportionally.. unless a genetic abnormality
Fantastic ❤❤❤❤❤ Thank you
brilliant explanation. thank you
Interesting, thank you 👍
Sir i was scrared that how u got theta , but then realised its sin theta can u plzz mention it bcz students like me take 2days to understand
Depending on how you measure, it's either theta or tan theta or sin theta. For small angles (as in this case), these are all approximately equal.
Of OThumb = OMom what?
Love the math but the geometry gets complicated. I prefer the modified mil-ranging formula that only requires simple algebra.
Clear instruction but unfortunately im rubbish at maths.
Wow its works Thank You Sir
For me 27
Cool!
I was interested in learning the rule of thumb. Was not getting it. Then I came here. DUH!
Anyone during quarentine?
Me here in Greece it's the 2nd quarantine
hi,how it's going?
Just started online classes
a time where life at risk, teachers hold classes just take the fee
I'm about to get in university, so no online class, haha
nice
ya Allah taqdirkanlah sniper.mereka akan menghadapi masalah dn keusakaran berfikir kerana terkesan dgn bunyi berdesing dalam tempoh yg sgt.lama menyebabkan mereka.ini ibarat.manusia yg sedang mabuk. Dn tidak.mampu berfikir secara.tetap
Now I feel like I love maths....😜😜
Very interesting, but if you want impress a girl at bar.. Good luck 😂😂.. But again very interesting
I was interested for almost 24 seconds and then he had to whip out the pen and paper and *M A T H S*
:(
edit: should have searched "way to measures distance without too much math"
I am ok with the math Because i lvoe math
"AND STUDIED PHYSICS WAY EARLIER"
also i love numbers and i love this video because of the details
On my way to BassPro to buy a device that tells me the distance so I can shoot squirrels.
I'm lost
Did joe die
@@Haliitti I can't believe you fell for it
@@Haliitti *JOE MAMA*
Cool
That he knows what he is talking about makes me realize I am a neanathol. Moving on!
@@pepwaverley2185 you get it!
How do you think Neanderthals did it?😅
@@christopherellis2663 don't know but I am convinced I missed a class or two in school.
Wow. 😂. Should have drank more gene pool juice my guy 😂😂😂😂
😭 mathematics😂
Heard from a Cajun that it was the allowable width of the stick you could beat your spouse with.
Urban legend.
THX I CAN CALCULATE THINGS BETTER
FORGET IT ! i'll stick to how many minutes it takes me to walk long distances
Brill!
👍
My thumb/arm is 1/25. So i guess 25 is the number gonna follow me the rest of my life😅
To use this very simple "rule of thumb" first take a few years of college trigonometry, make sure to have a note book and calculator, and hope you never need to use it because by the time you figure out the distance you'll be too confused to care what the distance is.
Rule of👍🏼
I have a wide thumb
If you have a wide thumb, but still want to use the value of 20 (because it's easy to multiply by 20), then find some other dimension that is about 20 times smaller than the length eye to hand. For instance, 20 might work for your thumbnail.
@@JoeWolfe thanks for the tip
This is so much simpler when adopting the military version of using mils to measure angles rather than degrees - 6400 mils in a full circle
When using mils the subtension rule is 1 mil equals 1 meter at 1,000 meters
Um. The technique in the video doesn't require measuring any angles, so units of angles are irrelevant.
This doesn't work for carpenters who have bad aim with a hammer..
NO METRIC!
wait... the "rule of thumb" DOES NOT derive from the old custom of beating your wife with a stick no larger in diameter than your thumb? well... i completely did not understand that saying
Try to use language that people generally understand. Mathematics is too specific and exclusive.
So try hard to be nice to those of us that paid attention to math in school.
To explain how it works, you have to use mathematics. If you just want to use the rule, multiply the size of the thing that your thumb covers by 20 and that's the distance to it.
Such sloppy handwriting, mixing printing with cursive. Please slow down and write this stuff out clearly. Other people are trying to interpret your chicken scratches.
This is WHY Physicists are always Full of Crap! The EASY WAY (I was taught this in USAF Pilots Survival Class), so I didn't invent it and NEITHER DID THIS Quack Phys! - You want to know a distance to a point without a Field Compass or any other device (including Algebra). 1) Face that point, and hold out your arm (Right or Left) and hand STRAIGHT with your Thumb Up and One of your eyes closed. NOTE THE POINT in the distance that your Thumb OBSCURES. Then Open your OTHER EYE and close the first one, now NOTE THAT the position your thumb covers is DIFFERENT, and Note that Point. THIS IS CALLED "PARALLAX". Now estimate that distance between the two NOTED POINTS by using the width of Trees, Houses, Cars (length), or other familiar landmarks. 3) Take that ESTIMATED width between the TWO THUMB POINTS and ADD A ZERO (0). So, if the estimated width was 30 (American) feet, the distance away is 300 FEET! Estimated Width is 100 feet, then the distance is 1000 Feet away. (Same works with that stupid Metric system). You'd be surprised to find, UNLESS YOU'RE A DUNCE at estimating, you will be within 10% CORRECT!! BTW ---- THIS IS CALLED THE ORIGINAL "Rule of Thumb" as used in Ancient Europe some 2,000 years ago, INCLUDING by the Roman Army; our ancestors were pretty damn smart (unlike Australian Physicists!)
(Me - PhD. Evolutionary Paleontologist, Univ of Chicago, USAF Capt. ret. 20th SOS, 27th Spl Ops Wing, 20 years, Nam 1970-73)