warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
So the insistence on using multiples of 1/64 inch is an admission that they really would like to have a unit like the millimeter, but because they do not have such a unit and refuse to use sensible units they have to use weird fractions.
And then they go ahead and make up 0.05" (1/20") next?
I would have no problem if there was a unit system which followed a different philosophy than the metric system, if there was any semblance of consistency to it. As a physicist I use all kinds of strange units if they are useful. But those American units are neither consistent nor useful (Except for maybe the speed of light being roughly 1ft/ns, but then nanosecond is from SI).
That's one of the big problems with imperial - the system does not line up with the decimal system we use.
7.4 feet does NOT equal to 7 feet and 4 inches. It's.. 7 feet and.. 40% of a foot, which is.. 12*.4 = 4.8 inches
So when you're measuring stuff in feet, you ALSO have to measure in inches. You gotta go 7 feet x inches, instead of 7.y feet, making measuring stuff a whole a of a lot annoying.
This is why you see all those fractions in imperial, they gotta do that because the system doesn't line up with the decimal system all of humanity (i think!) has decided to go with.