# Why is hell equal to 114.3 metres?

Well, the title says it all really. $$\text{hell} = 114.3\; \text{metres}$$ Why is this the case?

• Not an answer, but related: search "hellameter". – Ethan Bolker May 23 at 14:37

I think that this is because

The left hand side, hell, represents a hecto-ell.
Given that, in England at least, the ell was considered usually as 1.143m, a hell (or hectoell) would be 100 times that, i.e, 114.3m

• that's it! Well done. – JDL May 22 at 14:32
• so there are not that many organisms in hell, but still a lot of shouting going on. :) – Viktor Mellgren May 25 at 14:43

Actually it is equivalent to 113.4 (rather than 114.3) of any unit, not just metres. The decimal point is optional. 1.134, 11.34, 113.4, and 1134 are all equivalent to hell.

However this is only the case when using a device with a 7-segment liquid crystal display (LCD) such as an old calculator. The technique is simple: Input the number and then rotate the device 180 degrees. The display will now show the word "hell" in place of the number you keyed in.

You can replace the first two numerals (11) with 77 and get a virtually identical result.

• Not the answer I was after, but certainly lateral thinking! I remember playing around with those things in class spelling things like SHELLOIL! – JDL May 23 at 8:14
• 55378008 :-D (we were kids; it was funny then) – Kramii May 23 at 9:57
• 707 + 707 = 1414 the equation is correct, the text when read the calculator display 180 degrees rotated is also correct. – bart s May 24 at 13:31

The first 2 numbers (being 77) are the same as the sum of the last 2 numbers (34) indicating the conditions of existence transpire 7 days a week, meaning there's no break time from penance.

In the case of one (1) being the first 2 numbers, the serif makes it look like a seven (7). The sans-serif version of 1 displays the 11 dimensions of the world we live in (postulated by the M/String Theory), being aware of only 3 of the dimensions (the 2nd last number), but affected by 4 of the dimensions (the last number).

• Interesting approach — what about the "metres" part? – JDL May 26 at 7:45

This conviction has basically come from the fact that when you type in 1143 in a calculator and flip it then it reads as HEll.

• That would work for 1134 rather than 1143 - see Rob Collins' answer... – Stiv May 23 at 10:58
• 7734 would be better still – Kyle Delaney May 25 at 18:56