Imperial Or Metric?
- Thread starter happy_Alex
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Diverse in Unity
Looks like the CFC is very metrified, 80:20 
Marla_Singer
United in diversity
Indeed, what is hard is not to understand how it work, but actually being able to think in the system.MCdread said:Learning isn't the issue. The issue is what you do with what you've learned.
You can know perfectly that 1 mile is 1.6 km... and you can know there are 400 km between Paris and Lyon, but that doesn't mean you'll know directly the distance in miles between Paris and Lyon. You'll have to calculate it, making the system uncomfortable and not easy to use.
That's the whole reason why it needs at least one generation to switch from the medieval system to the metric system. For instance, the grand parents of my mother (from her father's side) thought in the medieval system... and they were in France (Burgundy), a country which has switched to the metric system at the French Revolution in the 1790's (!!).
Fetus4188
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That's a stupid condition to use, all that means is saying that the system you grew up with is better because that's what you learned everything in. Just like I can say english is the best language because that's the language I think in. I can think of distance in miles and not km. Doesn't that make imperial better? I also can think of distance in meters because I run track so I am used to 100m intervals. Does that make metric better? Again I can think of things in feet because I long jump and have had much experience guessing distance in feet and inches. That doesn't make imperial better. The same can be said for volume, temperature, force, whatever. Neither system is better than the other, it's just what you grow up with.
Metric is the way to go. As it is though, I have to use imperial at work, and there is one area where I actually prefer working with imperial than with metric - measuring small objects. I prefer using Mils (1/1000 of an inch) to millimeters, because you can measure very small dimentions, and yet you don't need to resort to decimal places.
Perfection
The Great Head.
That's just not correct. When dealing with scientific phenomena imperial units are a big headache. The conversian calculations need are much simpler in metric. I grew up with imperial, I learned to love metric.Fetus4188 said:
Fetus4188 said:
As an engineer, I could give you 1000s of reasons. For example, let's say a wheel on your stepper motor makes a complete turn every 1cm, and you want to see how many times it will turn over 2.8km distance? You can do it in your head... Or you want to see how many 10cm tiles you will need to fill up 100m sidewalk... There is a reason why nature gave us 10 fingers, and why we have 10 digits and not 12. Decimal system owns imperial.
Marla_Singer
United in diversity
There are small units than millimeters in the metric system...LordRahl said:
1 millimeter (mm) = 1,000 micrometers (µm)
1 micrometer (µm) = 1,000 nanometers (nm)
I think there are even smaller units but I don't know them.
Perfection
The Great Head.
Ummm, 100,000LordRahl said:
Noone calls them micrometers! They're microns, dammit.Marla_Singer said:
Marla_Singer said:
nanometers, picometers, femtometers...
The reason I prefer mils is because they are just right for the dimentions I deal with every day - as micrometers are too fine, and milimeters are way to big...
Perfection
The Great Head.
Maybe you could have something like dekamicrons.
LordRahl said:
The advantages of metric over imperial have nothing to do with the decimal system. It would have the same advantage if our number system was binary, hex, base 12 or anything else.
Marla_Singer
United in diversity
Sorry, we also called them microns in French, but as I wasn't sure of the English translation I've checked in a dictionnary and they were saying micrometers.Perfection said:Noone calls them micrometers! They're microns, dammit.
My fault.
Perfection
The Great Head.
Eh, it's nothin' I just like smartin offMarla_Singer said:Sorry, we also called them microns in French, but as I wasn't sure of the English translation I've checked in a dictionnary and they were saying micrometers.
My fault.
Of course god units pwn imperial and metric
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_units
Borrowed with liberty from the noble and rational pioneers of the metric system:
Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira,
Les impérialistes à la lanterne!
Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira,
Ces qui disent <<pousses>> et <<pieds>>, on les pendra!
Le despotisme expirera,
La rationalisme triomphera,
Ah!
Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira,
Les impérialistes à la lanterne!
Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira,
Ces qui disent <<pousses>> et <<pieds>>, on les pendra!
Le despotisme expirera,
La rationalisme triomphera,
Ah!
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