My old high school shop teacher used this fact way back in l964 or thereabouts, to illustrate the "measure twice, cut once" thingy.
He related that when he went to college (Georgia Tech, as I recall) it was a known and discussed fact that the measurements were just a wee bit off.
Actually, he initially was discussing the concrete footings for one of the NYC bridges, in that quite a few mistakes were made by the guys that built the wooden forms.
I suspect that if one were do extensive research, one would find quite a few of the iconic structures we all know of were measured wrong somewhere or somehow.
Heck, every few years they tell us that Mt. Everest is either taller or shorter than it was the last time they measured it!....................
Measure twice, pour once.....