Halliday, Resnick & Walker — Measurement: Problem 54

Measures of a man. Leonardo da Vinci, renowned for his understanding of human anatomy, valued the measures of a man stated by Vitruvius Pollio, a Roman architect and engineer of the first century BC: four fingers make one palm, four palms make one foot, six palms make one cubit, and four cubits make a man’s height. If we take a finger width to be 0.75 in., what then are (a) the length of a man’s foot and (b) the height of a man, both in centimeters?