HIGHER MATH--

I came across this tid-bit recently:  "The largest gold nugget ever found weighed 172 pounds and 13 ounces."

When I tried to determine its value at today's $1,135 price per counce--my calculator exploded.

Actually, gold is not measured in ounces as we commonly think of them--the Avoirdupois variety where there are 16 of them to a pound.

Gold is measured and sold in Troy ounces. 

Here's the formula:  One troy ounce = 480 grains, or 31.10 grams.  There are also 20 pennyweights to a troy ounce.  A troy pound contains 12 troy ounces (over 13 avoirdupois ounces) and is equivalent to 373.24 grams. 32.15 troy ounces = 1 kilogram.  Consequently, a grocery store pound which weighs 16 avoirdupois ounces (or 453.59 grams) will contain about 14.58 troy ounces.

It's no wonder my calculator exploded.