EPTDo you use Imperial or Metric? - Page 20
| Forum Index > General Forum |
|
Hassybaby
United Kingdom10823 Posts
| ||
|
sigma_x
Australia285 Posts
On December 09 2011 22:40 Dfgj wrote: This is what I understand. I've never heard of the Imperial system called 'standard'. I think the OP might have meant "standard" as in "imperial standard" system of length, and then tried to extrapolate its meaning to the whole "imperial system of measurement" . I'm guessing that other posters use the word "standard" only because the OP has. | ||
|
Impervious
Canada4216 Posts
Whoever you were having a discussion with is an idiot, and shouldn't be in civil engineering, if they think there is any difference between 78 in^4 and 32 466 051 mm^4 (EDIT - I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt here, and hoping that it isn't you that came up with this, if it is you, please, let me know the location of everything you've worked on, and everything you will work on in the future, so I know where I should stay away from). These numbers represent the exact same fucking thing, you're just using a different, inferior, arbitrary measurement system. Not only that, but if you only have 2 significant digits to work with, you'd be looking at 32 466 051 mm^4 as being represented by 3.2*10^7 mm^4, which is still pretty easy to work with..... And definitely just as easy (if not easier) to spot check if you've been using the system for a while. For instance, if the exponent is either 6 or 8, and you're expecting 7, there's a good chance that you fucked up somewhere..... I know that I've found errors quickly during exams by knowing what exponent to expect..... I know I quoted this guy a few hours ago, but this just really, really annoyed me, and is still bugging me right now. As a civil engineering student, I'm learning to work with both imperial and metric because I have to (a lot of shit in Canada deals with imperial units still, which is really unfortunate imo, since metric is so much nicer to work with). In many cases, I actually go out of my way to convert everything into metric, perform my calculations using metric, and then convert back into imperial whenever I need to make calculations involving imperial units, simply because they are such a pain in the ass to work with in comparison. EDIT - also, rebar (and many other things) sold like that is a convention based off of the imperial system. There are also materials created with metric conventions that help simplify calculations in metric, although in NA they are a lot rarer than materials that deal with imperial conventions. EDIT - I need to stay away from this thread. The sheer stupidity of some of these posts is mind blowing. | ||
|
oneofthem
Cayman Islands24199 Posts
it's imperial units. fuck | ||
|
Velr
Switzerland10873 Posts
On December 09 2011 22:36 2WeaK wrote: Cooking is also a big one in Canada. A cup of this, 3/4 a cup, 2 teaspoons, etc... Instead of just giving us the straight up quantities in ml -.- I hate that. Uhm... It would suck horribly to weight everything while cooking.. And the measurements actually make sense because they are defined by stuff you actually have in your kitchen... | ||
|
oneofthem
Cayman Islands24199 Posts
On December 09 2011 22:55 Velr wrote: Uhm... It would suck horribly to weight everything while cooking.. And the measurements actually make sense because they are defined by stuff you actually have in your kitchen... yea that's fine but do you really need to extend that outside of the kitchen. i can measure stuff with a cup without making it into a whole measurement system. | ||
|
Juffalo
United States155 Posts
I grew up in South Africa but spent my high school and college years in the US. As a result I just mix and match the two systems. For distances under 1 mile I think in meters, when I do think of a mile though I relate it to 1600 meters and not 5000whatever feet. I think of long distances in miles because that is the system I am most familiar with as a result of driving on US highways. Liquid measurements I stick solidly to the metric system. Weight I stick with the old system. It's pretty easy to convert between lbs and kgs but after American highschool I am way too used to thinking in pounds. As a child of both systems I think the metric system is definitely better when it comes to distances and liquid measurements. Weight though doesn't seem like that big a deal, since pounds and kgs both function in a similar fashion so long as you don't need to invoke tonnes as a unit of measurement. | ||
|
Piste
6183 Posts
On December 09 2011 13:34 CygNus X-1 wrote: They all have their place for different things. For instance, in construction Standard is ... well... standard lol. Metric is easier to calculate, I think. lol you must be joking. metric system is also used in construction outside the countries that use imperial system. imperial system is not standard by the way. that would be nuts. you can't even calculate properly with it. | ||
|
Niarro
Canada22 Posts
Metric makes a lot more sense to me, but I grew up with it. | ||
|
sopas
509 Posts
| ||
|
Craton
United States17281 Posts
On December 09 2011 23:00 Niarro wrote: That's not "Standard" it's "Imperial" Metric makes a lot more sense to me, but I grew up with it. Yeah, I've never heard it called "standard" in my entire life. | ||
|
Sated
England4983 Posts
| ||
|
Cirqueenflex
499 Posts
| ||
|
wswordsmen
United States987 Posts
| ||
|
Rob28
Canada705 Posts
Most people I know operate under the same pretenses. Everything is supposed to be metric here, but I don't know anyone who measures height in meters or weight in kilograms (grams, yes, but not kilos). | ||
|
mrafaeldie12
Brazil537 Posts
| ||
|
Tobberoth
Sweden6375 Posts
The question is sort of weird anyway since most people live in countries not using imperial, and they will always use metric. The question is more relevant to americans since it seems quite common that americans use imperial but prefer metric since it's more logical. | ||
|
ZeaL.
United States5955 Posts
| ||
|
Copymizer
Denmark2107 Posts
| ||
|
Tobberoth
Sweden6375 Posts
On December 09 2011 13:32 Keyboard Warrior wrote: Advantages of Standard 1. Standard goes more naturally with fractions - quarter of a pint, half foot, etc. Technically, you don't say half meter but rather 50 centimeters or 500 millimeters. 2. Standard units are more practical and convenient. No one goes to the grocery to buy 400ml drink, instead, they buy it in 12 ounces. No one buys 5 meters of wood, instead, they buy it is 1x1x12, all in feet. 1. Fractions are used with metric all the time. In fact, i'd say it's a bonus of metric because it's base 10, so saying 0,5 and then converting that actually makes sense numerically. 2. This is completely subjective. In most countries, it's the exact opposite from what you're saying, I find it way more practical and convenient to say 400ml than 12 ounces because I have no idea what an ounce is, while I can use simple math to realize that 400ml is slightly less than half a litre, it's 0,4 litres which is immediately obvious. Of course, you can do some reductio ad absurdum where you say 0,4 litres tell you just as much as how many ounces there are to a pint or whatever, but that's not really relevant since you need some base values regardless. | ||
| ||
