Newbie question

Completely daft newbie question that I'm hoping will have a simple
answer.

Mention is frequently made of the term L/D, which I know is an
abbreviation of Lift / Drag. For example, the L/D cited in an advert for
a Ka6 recently was "L/d 33"

If L/D is the Lift/Drag ratio, why are the figures accompanying it
frequently not ratios? For instance, in the above, what is the "33"?

Is L/D used as the best Lift/Drag ratio the glider in question can
achieve? How does this translate in real terms? Does it describe the
best glide speed, or relate to the glide ratio in any way?

The glide ratio (eg. An ASH25 has a glide ratio of 60:1) seems a great
way of describing certain aspects of the performance of a glider. Yet
most the specifications I read describing gliders don't give this figure
in quite such a straight forward way. Is this information somehow
derived from other information given? Or is it too variable to generally
provide as a generic statistic (eg. One ASH25 might have a 60:1 ratio,
another less at 45:1)?

Am I managing to make any sense, or am I completely confusing myself (in
which case, no worries - more time, exposure and experience will
eventually rattle all this out for me, I'm sure)?

--
Bill Gribble

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