Personally I think metric is better as it was originally designed on something that doesnt vary often (ie a metre is the 1^-7 of the distance between the equator and the north pole) as opposed to imperial (ie an inch is 1/12 of the length of the foot of the King at the time of coining a standard measurement for distance)
Do you use Imperial or Metric? - Page 48
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KnT
Australia243 Posts
Personally I think metric is better as it was originally designed on something that doesnt vary often (ie a metre is the 1^-7 of the distance between the equator and the north pole) as opposed to imperial (ie an inch is 1/12 of the length of the foot of the King at the time of coining a standard measurement for distance) | ||
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Tektos
Australia1321 Posts
On January 10 2012 14:15 Kaiyotic wrote: Pros of Imperial system - Tends to be divisible by 3 and 4 more often - Fahrenheit has smaller units so less messing with decimals Pros of Metric system - It makes sense. Pros of Metric: - The entire freaking world besides your country uses it. You would think having a worldwide standard would be worth something, no? | ||
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LegendaryZ
United States1583 Posts
On January 10 2012 14:11 Tektos wrote: It is true though. More people use metric, it is the standard. If you're going to refer to imperial as "standard" then specify "U.S. standard". Or maybe, you know, request the thread title to be changed so people stop bringing this up? On January 10 2012 14:07 Cyber_Cheese wrote: Does being old make it untrue? If most of the world uses it, it's standard. You guys DO realize that "metric" is the NAME of the metric system, right? And "standard" in this case is referring to one of the NAMES used for the imperial system, right? Stop acting stupid when you know exactly what the OP is trying to say... And yes, the METRIC system is the standard used by the vast majority of the world. That doesn't change it's name from "metric" to "standard"... On January 10 2012 14:17 KnT wrote: Personally I think metric is better as it was originally designed on something that doesnt vary often (ie a metre is the 1^-7 of the distance between the equator and the north pole) as opposed to imperial (ie an inch is 1/12 of the length of the foot of the King at the time of coining a standard measurement for distance) So "1^-7 of the distance between the equator and the north pole)" is somehow less arbitrary than the foot of a particular king? As long as the measurement itself doesn't change (a foot today is always the same distance as a foot yesterday) why does it matter? By the way, I am personally not invested either way as far as any major change toward metric goes. It probably makes sense to have a global standard if only for communication purposes, but all this efficiency and education stuff is just nonsense in my opinion. Calculation is calculation and measuring is measuring. Metric doesn't make it any easier or harder. What makes it harder is if you don't know imperial, but have to calculate/measure in it, but that's because of your own unfamiliarity with imperial rather than any superiority of metric. I can assure you that anyone with a brain in the USA gets by just fine with our "inferior" system of measurement. Personally as far as measurements go, I'm much more bothered by the lack of a standard measurement for men's shirts in this country. WTF is S/M/L/XL and why does it change from designer to designer? | ||
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Tektos
Australia1321 Posts
On January 10 2012 14:20 LegendaryZ wrote: You guys DO realize that "metric" is the NAME of the metric system, right? And "standard" in this case is referring to one of the NAMES used for the imperial system, right? Stop acting stupid when you know exactly what the OP is trying to say... And yes, the METRIC system is the standard used by the vast majority of the world. That doesn't change it's name from "metric" to "standard"... "Standard" is not an official name of the imperial measurement system it is just a popularization in America because of the reluctance to change to metric and there being a "new" system. The name of the system is imperial. Lets use the simple imperial system: Unit - Relative to previous thou (th) 1⁄12000 inch (in) 1000 thou foot (ft) 12 inches yard (yd) 3 feet chain (ch) 22 yards furlong (fur) 10 chains mile (mi) 8 furlongs league (lea) 3 miles Simple :D | ||
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KnT
Australia243 Posts
On January 10 2012 14:20 LegendaryZ wrote:As long as the measurement itself doesn't change (a foot today is always the same distance as a foot yesterday) why does it matter? ^^ In short, it doesnt, but -> to me <- (Key words here) using a human foot as a unit of measurement is kinda silly as everyone has different sized feet whereas using the equator -> north pole is much more constant. Which is why I said "Personally I think metric is better" and not just "Metric is better" And ++ to your shirt sizes comment, how I wish they were standardised | ||
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LegendaryZ
United States1583 Posts
On January 10 2012 14:27 Tektos wrote: "Standard" is not an official name of the imperial measurement system it is just a popularization in America because of the reluctance to change to metric and there being a "new" system. The name of the system is imperial. Lets use the simple imperial system: Unit - Relative to previous thou (th) 1⁄12000 inch (in) 1000 thou foot (ft) 12 inches yard (yd) 3 feet chain (ch) 22 yards furlong (fur) 10 chains mile (mi) 8 furlongs league (lea) 3 miles Simple :D Now let's look at the units we actually use in this country: Inch Foot Yard Mile Inches-Feet 12 Feet-Yard 3 Yard-Mile Seriously, nobody does this conversion ever as there's really never any need to. All you need to know in the USA is 100 Yards=Football field (American football)... Oh, and that 55 miles per hour is the speed limit on most highways... (And if you're a Fast and Furious fan (AKA: idiot), then 1/4 mile is the distance every ricer does in 10 seconds or less to compare who's got bigger balls) | ||
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Tektos
Australia1321 Posts
On January 10 2012 14:32 LegendaryZ wrote: Now let's look at the units we actually use in this country: Inch Foot Yard Mile Inches-Feet 12 Feet-Yard 3 Yard-Mile Seriously, nobody does this conversion ever as there's really never any need to. All you need to know in the USA is 100 Yards=Football field (American football)... Oh, and that 55 miles per hour is the speed limit on most highways... You probably don't use them because of how unintuitive they are. | ||
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KnT
Australia243 Posts
1000000 Nanometres = 1 Millimetre 10 Millimetres = 1 Centimetre 100 Centimetres = 1 Metre 1000 Metres = 1 kilometre Multiples of 10 ftw! EDIT: LAWL epic mistype | ||
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LegendaryZ
United States1583 Posts
On January 10 2012 14:36 Tektos wrote: You probably don't use them because of how unintuitive they are. Practically speaking, what are you going to be measuring in chains and furlongs? How often do you use decimeters in your practical, everyday measurements? It's just unnecessary. | ||
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iokke
United States1179 Posts
On January 10 2012 14:00 LegendaryZ wrote: Whatever is easier/more familiar for a given product or purpose at the time. 100 yards. 16 oz. 2 liters 20lbs. 1 kilo 5 feet 9 inches 1 gallon 1 teaspoon 32 degrees F 20 decibels Bla bla bla... And yes, I live in the USA. I don't really get the argument over switching everything to metric. As long as you're familiar with the system and an inch is always an inch, who cares? It's like currency... if you need to, just do the conversion afterward. As for the issue of calculation, I really don't get what's so much easier about metric. Are calculations like 12x2 that difficult? Is metric more sensible and consistent? Probably. Is it any easier? Same shit to me... but there is a benefit of not having to go through the conversion process, it minimizes costs of transactions, makes trade easier etc. Though obviously it is not a huge issue in modern world, everyone using the same system would still be an improvement. Also, I've moved to the States about 10 years ago from Europe, and I still hate the "standard" system. Just can't get used to it, when the GPS says the turn is coming up in 60 feet I have to convert it to meters or 10 "mes" to approximate the distance myself :D | ||
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Cyber_Cheese
Australia3615 Posts
On January 10 2012 14:11 LegendaryZ wrote: I don't get this argument either. You learn all this stuff as a child so it takes no time at all for it to become second nature. Do you really think the fact that 12 inches = 1 foot is what's holding the American education system back? Really... unless you start getting into really obscure measurements (ie. furlongs and jiggers), nobody has trouble with this stuff at all. But why bother explaining out and making a child memorize these random values, when they could just learn powers of ten? On January 10 2012 14:15 Kaiyotic wrote: Pros of Imperial system - Tends to be divisible by 3 and 4 more often - Fahrenheit has smaller units so less messing with decimals Pros of Metric system - It makes sense. Nobody really bothers messing with decimals on the Celcius/Kelvin scales, the temperature doesn't really need to be a precision thing. Metric tends to be divisible by 2/5/10 more often, I don't understand how 3/4 is a pro. | ||
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LegendaryZ
United States1583 Posts
On January 10 2012 14:50 Cyber_Cheese wrote: But why bother explaining out and making a child memorize these random values, when they could just learn powers of ten? Nobody really bothers messing with decimals on the Celcius/Kelvin scales, the temperature doesn't really need to be a precision thing. Metric tends to be divisible by 2/5/10 more often, I don't understand how 3/4 is a pro. Well, 4 quarters = 1 dollar and quarters are what we use for like... everything as far as coins are concerned. LOL 4 is a really easy number for Americans and just comes up often. 1/4 mile, 1/4 hours, etc. On an everyday level it's just really common. As for the education aspect, I REALLY think you're overestimating how much time and effort it actually takes to learn what you need to. Plenty of other things you learn/memorize are just as "random" as far as values go... And there's not much explaining to do. 12 inches is 1 foot. Memorize that relationship. What is there to explain? | ||
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Cyber_Cheese
Australia3615 Posts
On January 10 2012 14:20 LegendaryZ wrote: By the way, I am personally not invested either way as far as any major change toward metric goes. It probably makes sense to have a global standard if only for communication purposes, but all this efficiency and education stuff is just nonsense in my opinion. Calculation is calculation and measuring is measuring. Metric doesn't make it any easier or harder. What makes it harder is if you don't know imperial, but have to calculate/measure in it, but that's because of your own unfamiliarity with imperial rather than any superiority of metric. I can assure you that anyone with a brain in the USA gets by just fine with our "inferior" system of measurement. On January 10 2012 14:32 LegendaryZ wrote: Yard-Mile Seriously, nobody does this conversion ever as there's really never any need to. All you need to know in the USA is 100 Yards=Football field (American football)... Oh, and that 55 miles per hour is the speed limit on most highways... (And if you're a Fast and Furious fan (AKA: idiot), then 1/4 mile is the distance every ricer does in 10 seconds or less to compare who's got bigger balls) There is no problem with it, but you don't even know the number of yards in a mile, despite being raised on it. How can you not see any problem with that? On January 10 2012 14:56 LegendaryZ wrote: Well, 4 quarters = 1 dollar and quarters are what we use for like... everything as far as coins are concerned. LOL 4 is a really easy number for Americans and just comes up often. 1/4 mile, 1/4 hours, etc. On an everyday level it's just really common. As opposed to the ease of a tenth in a decimal numbering system? | ||
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JustinL
Australia58 Posts
On January 10 2012 14:20 LegendaryZ wrote: So "1^-7 of the distance between the equator and the north pole)" is somehow less arbitrary than the foot of a particular king? As long as the measurement itself doesn't change (a foot today is always the same distance as a foot yesterday) why does it matter? A metre is the distance light travels in a certain time. You can't really get less arbitrary than that... | ||
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Cyber_Cheese
Australia3615 Posts
On January 10 2012 14:58 JustinL wrote: A metre is the distance light travels in a certain time. You can't really get less arbitrary than that... Errr, that could apply to ANY distance... light does just under 300,000,000 m/s if memory serves. But it's based on the equator/pole thing. | ||
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KnT
Australia243 Posts
On January 10 2012 15:00 Cyber_Cheese wrote:light does just under 300,000,000 m/s if memory serves. But it's based on the equator/pole thing. "Used to be" based on, it was changed in 1983 to 1 divided by the speed of light or 1/299792458 | ||
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Typhon
United States387 Posts
On January 10 2012 14:56 LegendaryZ wrote: Well, 4 quarters = 1 dollar and quarters are what we use for like... everything as far as coins are concerned. LOL 4 is a really easy number for Americans and just comes up often. 1/4 mile, 1/4 hours, etc. On an everyday level it's just really common. Can't tell if troll, but I'll bite. We already are on a "metric" (power-of-ten) units for currency, because the "hard-to-do-math" part of the imperial system actually was too much of a headache. Now tell me how many shillings are in a half-crown. | ||
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LegendaryZ
United States1583 Posts
On January 10 2012 14:56 Cyber_Cheese wrote: There is no problem with it, but you don't even know the number of yards in a mile, despite being raised on it. How can you not see any problem with that? 5280 feet 1760 yards I didn't say I didn't know them. I said nobody ever does these conversions... After 100 yards, you pretty much count in fractions or decimals of a mile. (ie. 0.2 miles, 1/4 mile, etc.) On January 10 2012 14:56 Cyber_Cheese wrote: As opposed to the ease of a tenth in a decimal numbering system? Umm.. yes? You're going to have to trust me on this one. It is.. Actually, I guess I'll go ahead and explain why it is that you're blowing this entire thing out of proportion. Unless you're in the scientific community (which is already on metric anyway), how often are you converting measurements? A teaspoon is a teaspoon. If you need a tablespoon, you grab the tablespoon. Drinks come in pints, quarts, liters, gallons. At no point in regular living are you pondering how many pints are in a gallon. All you need to know is that you need a gallon of milk or a gallon of water. When dealing with height, you are X number of feet and Y number of inches. There's really no point at which it's necessary to know how many yards tall you are or even how many inches. Every form you will ever fill out asks the question the same way (__ft. __in.). The same goes for just about everything else. This is why nobody really has a problem despite how illogical the imperial system may be or how arbitrary all the relationships may seem. There's never any real need to convert because everything you measure stays within its own value of measurement. I'm never going to tell someone "You need to go 1760 yards down the road." I tell them "It's a mile down that way.". For everyday living it's fine... believe me when I say so. On January 10 2012 15:02 Typhon wrote: Can't tell if troll, but I'll bite. We already are on a "metric" (power-of-ten) units for currency, because the "hard-to-do-math" part of the imperial system actually was too much of a headache. Now tell me how many shillings are in a half-crown. I can assure you that I'm not a troll just as I can assure you that your question is absolutely meaningless to me because nobody uses either of those measurements for anything around here. Hell, I don't even know WHAT they're supposed to measure. If it's currency, talk dollars and cents and I'll tell you why it's nowhere near the nightmare you people are making it out to be. | ||
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KnT
Australia243 Posts
Btw, 2.5 shillings to a half-crown which is the old school imperial English currency | ||
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DeathCompany
United States53 Posts
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