The metric system sucks
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From: Gerry Myerson on 4 Feb 2010 20:59 In article <f7jmm5trftkja8ikb1r2lcu6gmthcptdpg(a)4ax.com>, Antares 531 <gordonlrDELETE(a)swbell.net> wrote: > On Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:09:55 +1100, Gerry Myerson > <gerry(a)maths.mq.edi.ai.i2u4email> wrote: > > >In article <hkeig101lnd(a)news3.newsguy.com>, jmfbahciv <jmfbahciv(a)aol> > >wrote: > > > >> I grew up in the US and cannot think in metric terms so I > >> always have to do a conversion to make guesstimates. > >> For some strange reason, kilometers seem to take "longer" > >> to drive than miles when I drove from Buffalo to Port > >> Huron, Michigan. :-) > > > >Probably because of those metric Canadian hours, what with > >each one being 100 minutes long. > > > When are they likely to change over to a metric week of 10 days? I believe that idea was tried and found wanting in the earliest days of the metric system in Revolutionary France. -- Gerry Myerson (gerry(a)maths.mq.edi.ai) (i -> u for email)
From: Gerry Myerson on 4 Feb 2010 21:02 In article <g%Han.64606$PH1.48405(a)edtnps82>, "Heidi Graw" <hgraw(a)telus.net> wrote: > >"Gerry Myerson" <gerry(a)maths.mq.edi.ai.i2u4email> wrote in message > >news:gerry-31BCD8.09095505022010(a)news.eternal-september.org... > >> In article <hkeig101lnd(a)news3.newsguy.com>, jmfbahciv <jmfbahciv(a)aol> > >> wrote: > > > >> I grew up in the US and cannot think in metric terms so I > >> always have to do a conversion to make guesstimates. > >> For some strange reason, kilometers seem to take "longer" > >> to drive than miles when I drove from Buffalo to Port > >> Huron, Michigan. :-) > > > Gerry wrote: > > Probably because of those metric Canadian hours, what with > > each one being 100 minutes long. > > What about measuring time in degrees? How might that work? > Ie. it's 360 o'clock, or 180, or 90, etc. My boss has a clock in his office where the hours, starting at 3 and going clockwise, are marked 0, - pi / 6, - pi / 3, - pi / 2, etc, until 2 o'clock is marked - 11 pi / 6. -- Gerry Myerson (gerry(a)maths.mq.edi.ai) (i -> u for email)
From: Andrew Usher on 4 Feb 2010 21:06 On Feb 4, 7:15 am, Bart Goddard <goddar...(a)netscape.net> wrote: > It is a fact that in almost all real calculations in > English units, one unit is chosen and it is decimated. Interesting word choice! > The only exception I can think of off the top of my > head is that carpenters like their denominators to be > powers of 2. Feet and inches are used together in construction, at least. > Otherwise, most people would calculate > using number like 15.53 feet. Every bit as easy as > the same calculation in the metric system. True. And anywhere that multiplication or division is required, mixed units will not be used as they become too difficult. Andrew Usher
From: Andrew Usher on 4 Feb 2010 21:08 On Feb 4, 3:21 am, nos...(a)nospam.com (Paul Ciszek) wrote: > >I even had one professor who worked in a system where all independent > >constants (c, q, permativitty of free space, etc) were all equal to > >1. > > I had an E&M textbook like that once...everything was fine until one of > the homework problems ended with having to find the dimensions of a > solenoid needed to satisfy some condition. I just couldn't turn the > ESU's or whatever back into meters and amps. And did you then realise just how silly SI is for EM calculations? Andrew Usher
From: Andrew Usher on 4 Feb 2010 21:09
On Feb 4, 4:26 am, "Mike Dworetsky" <platinum...(a)pants.btinternet.com> wrote: > I don't see any signs lately that the US is going back to the moon, > regardless of units, so at best your comment is an irrelevance. It was meant to illustrate that non-metric units are no obstacle to accomplishing anything. Andrew Usher |