America and the metric system

[Renata]

Originally posted by Quokka
How can anyone say that this convoluted mess is easier than the metric system?

The nice clean division arguments might work for the foot and yard, but what about 1/3 of a mile, or a 1/3 of a pint, or a 1/3 of a pound?
Not everything is in base-12 either, there is also base-16 and base-14, which is much worse than base-10.

Aaarrrghhh. I never said the 'convoluted mess' is easier than the metric system. In fact, I believe I said that I would hate to have to switch to Imperial units in my current job as a chemist. I said that *in some cases* the easier division provided by certain of the Imperial units provides for an easier time doing *some* applications --- house/furniture construction and machining being the ones I was thinking of. For those applications you are most often working in feet, inches and in fractions of inches, and easy division by your choice of 2,3,4 or 6 (or 2,4 and 8) provides more options than easy division only by 2 and 5.

That's all.

Renata

 

[xghost]

Originally posted by Quokka

How can anyone say that this convoluted mess is easier than the metric system?

The nice clean division arguments might work for the foot and yard, but what about 1/3 of a mile, or a 1/3 of a pint, or a 1/3 of a pound?
Not everything is in base-12 either, there is also base-16 and base-14, which is much worse than base-10.

Why on earth would a hundredweight not weigh 100lbs at least?

Sure, the 'American' system is more complicated, but we have more fun confusing foreigners with our system that you Europeans do with yours.

 

[MCdread]

Originally posted by xghost


[...] that you Europeans do with yours.

You mean "that you in the rest of the world do".

 

[sysyphus]

The winner of the decimalisation vs fractionalisation has long been declared by those who have to work with imperial units regularly, ie technical people, machinists etc.

In the world of technology and manufacturing in countries where measurements are made in inches, they have stopped using fractions because their use is limited, in order to specify sizes and dimensions in fractional terms you have to either keep to a few simple ones like 1/2, 1/3 etc or use nasty looking things like 465/2056 (yuck!)

That is why this work, people who use inches now break them down into thousanths of and inch (or 'thou' for short). Franctions are just too inflexible.

I see no advantage for fractions. They only get used for stepping sizes of drill bits, screws etc., 1/4, 17/64, 9/32, 19/64, 5/16, 21/64 etc...

Never mind when you get into smaller imperial sizes which have no specific size, they're just numbered! #4, #6, #8 sized screws, jeez, what size hole do you drill to accomodate that!?!?!?!

This is obviously a very complicated way of counting, having to change both the numerator and denominator every size, then redivding the denominator to get the lowest common denominator. What a mess.

Easier to think of 4mm, 5mm, 6mm, 7mm etc.

Fractions? I haven't used them since grade 3 except when having to deal with annoying imperial sized things. Hrmph!

And so we outline yet one more aspect as to why the metric system is clearly superior.

 

[WillJ]

Originally posted by Pillager
I have something I need to share between two people( 1/2). Two more people then arrive and want a fair share (1/4), then their friends arrive and I find I need 16 portions of the original so I divde each 1/4 into 4, giving me sixteen sixteenths.

Easier than 1 --> 0.5 --> 0.25 --> 0.0625

I guess in some cases decimals are better than fractions (.536 better than 67/125), in some cases fractions are better than decimals (1/16 better than .0625), and in some cases, they are equally good (.5 and 1/2). Also, decimals are better than fractions at addition and subtraction, fractions are better than decimals at division, and both are probably equally good at multipication.

However, this is quite a pointless argument, because why in the world is metric harder to divide into fractions? Why is saying half a yard okay, but not half a meter?

Originally posted by Renata
1/3 is infinately more precise than 0.33333333333333333 etc.

Ever heard of the repeating sign? (I guess you can't easily do it on computers, though.)

 

[hbdragon88]

Originally posted by tonberry


That's the point. Why bother complicated your life when you travel? Just because you "like" the imperial system? Don't worry, you'll get use to it (the metric system).

Because I read about the deals the European countries had when they switched to the Euro, having to get calculators and stuff.

 

[Akka]

Originally posted by hbdragon88


Because I read about the deals the European countries had when they switched to the Euro, having to get calculators and stuff.

Yup.
And to think that if your parents had switched to metric, you would be used to it already.
But they were afraid that they would need calculators and such...

 

[MCdread]

Originally posted by hbdragon88


Because I read about the deals the European countries had when they switched to the Euro, having to get calculators and stuff.

Yep, and now less than 1 year and a half later (or should I say 1,5 years... ) everyone's used to it, and soon it will be easier to think about it than the old currency. I'm sure the americans aren't more intelectual lazy, are they?...

 

[Silverflame]

I guess the whole argument of fractions won't end. People who live in metric communities can visualize 3/10 easier than 1/16, while here in the US most people visualize in powers of two a lot better than fractions of ten. How about this: We'll switch to the metric system as soon as Britain switches to the Euro.

 

[nihilistic]

Originally posted by Akka
No.
A litre is a cubic dm, and a kilogram is (was supposed to be) the weight of a liter of pure water.

Woah. I really should stop pulling these all nighters, or stop posting while pulling all nighters. Anyway, thanks for the correction.

 

[Aphex_Twin]

Originally posted by Akka
No.
A litre is a cubic dm, and a kilogram is (was supposed to be) the weight of a liter of pure water.

Not getting very technical... A kilogram is the wheight of a liter of pure water at 4 degrees Celsius (the temperature of maximum density for water).