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DOH! Is that inches or centimeters?

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As it is now, I have to keep two %$#% sets of tools. This is true
also in machine shops around the world. The automotive industry.

No, the savings would be huge.

Still trying to justify that thing to my-self.

Steven
DavidP said:
If you had to convince business to pay for the changes, in the
form of expected future profits from the benefits, I doubt you'd
get many takers.
aevoegels said:
It would cost some in the beginning, but it would save a lot in the
long run...
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--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
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--
---
My really bad Fall Adventures:
http://www.pbase.com/snoyes/fall_adventures_2002
 
I still bet it took you longer than for me to figure out that there's exactly 100,000 cm's to a km. :-)

When it comes to easy things, technology will always slower than a human. We should strive to create tools that fit us, and replace the ones that make our lives needlessly complicated. Why depend on tools when you don't have to? (i.e. the age old: "what happens when you run out of batteries?")

So, how many square inches to a square mile? grin (a km^2 is 10^10 cm^2)

It's very easy to demonstrate the objective superiority of the metric system. Then again, i can understand that people that have grown upp with the antiquated imperial system and don't know how to think in metric have trouble seeing the advantages that seem so obvious to the rest of us.
DavidP said:
Henrik Abelsson said:
Or can you quickly tell me how many inches there are to a mile
without using any aids?
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--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
Click to expand...
 
Riaan Jutte said:
It would be of considerable help if the
minority of people who still cling to the old British system of
inches would add a " to indicate it is inches.
Click to expand...
In my local do-it-yourself store (here in the UK) they have 3 meter wide rolls of carpet - and they sell it in lengths of a foot!

Dot expect '2x3' foot paving slabs to be 2 feet by 3 feet (like they used to be), they are now 600mm by 900mm.

When it is hot people here talk Fahrenheit (60, 70 80 degrees) but when it is cold they talk Celsius (5 degrees, 0 degrees).

The weekend TV weather reports tell me where the mountain cloud bases will be in feet, but all the maps are in metres.

And a 5x4 negative is bigger than a 6x6 negative?

AAAAghh!

Steve
 
To within 1% is fine. The calculations are a pain. Metric makes
this easier. Some day we Americans will wake up and realize that
keeping with an archaic system like feet, inches, mile, Deg F, Rankin,
Pecks, Pints, Bushels, Barrels and fort-nights is just ludicrous.

Besides 48 degrees does not sound as bad as 118 in the summer.

Steven
DavidP said:
DavidP said:
PS -- no aids:

5,280 feet to the mile

12 inches to the foot

10 x 5280 = 52,800

10% of that is 5,280

20% would then be 10,560

So the answer is the sum, or 63,360 inches to a mile.
Henrik Abelsson said:
Or can you quickly tell me how many inches there are to a mile
without using any aids?
Click to expand...
--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
Click to expand...
--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
Click to expand...
--
---
My really bad Fall Adventures:
http://www.pbase.com/snoyes/fall_adventures_2002
 
DavidP said:
What do you poor "metric-slaves" DO when you have to figure out the
speed of an object that traverses 1327 meters in 342.5 seconds?
Click to expand...
Obviously the same thing you do. Whether you use metric or some other system doesn't help one bit to calculate 1327/342.5.

It's not magic fairy dust you can sprinkle over any problem to make it easy, you know :) But type conversions is a very common problem, and that's one place where the metric system really shines.
 
DavidP #28649 said:
At least we say 8x10, 11x14, 13x19.
Click to expand...
Do you mean inches or centimeters?

The point of my first post was that everyone should indicate whether they are talking about 20x30 inches or 20x30 centimeters, and not just assume that eveyone knows what they mean...

And I recently read somewhere that the USA is the only country in the world to officially still use the imperical system, and that's what I meant by "minority".
 
All I asked was that whatever system you use, just please state whether you are talking about inches or centimeters, so that everyone can be clear what you are trying to say.
DavidP said:
We know that a section is one square mile which is 640 acres. Why
the heck would we now want to remember how to express that in
metric?

Or would it make you happy if we just called a 5/8" wrench a 158.75
mm wrench ?
aevoegels said:
Only the english would create such a pathetic measuring system. And
only us in the US are stupid enough to be using it when even its
creater already realized ita a bad system...

God save the metric system!
Click to expand...
--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
Click to expand...
 
So, since you normally have to use "aids" (calculator / computer) anyway to do any meaningful calculations, what's the big deal if you also need the calculator to do a few unit conversions?
Henrik Abelsson said:
DavidP said:
What do you poor "metric-slaves" DO when you have to figure out the
speed of an object that traverses 1327 meters in 342.5 seconds?
Click to expand...
Obviously the same thing you do. Whether you use metric or some
other system doesn't help one bit to calculate 1327/342.5.

It's not magic fairy dust you can sprinkle over any problem to make
it easy, you know :) But type conversions is a very common
problem, and that's one place where the metric system really shines.
Click to expand...
--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
 
But how often do I need to convert square inches to square miles? Other than discussions like this, pretty much never. Did you know that there are 43,560 square feet in an acre? Why do I know that number? Because I use it every day. For those who don't use it every day, when would they ever need to know it?

Like I said, it's not a simple task to just simply "convert" into the metric system. There's all sorts of things that have been "set in stone" with other units. There's no way of avoiding unit conversions because of this.

The ONLY thing you get by converting over are the costs associated with it.
Henrik Abelsson said:
I still bet it took you longer than for me to figure out that
there's exactly 100,000 cm's to a km. :-)

When it comes to easy things, technology will always slower than a
human. We should strive to create tools that fit us, and replace
the ones that make our lives needlessly complicated. Why depend on
tools when you don't have to? (i.e. the age old: "what happens when
you run out of batteries?")

So, how many square inches to a square mile? grin (a km^2 is
10^10 cm^2)

It's very easy to demonstrate the objective superiority of the
metric system. Then again, i can understand that people that have
grown upp with the antiquated imperial system and don't know how to
think in metric have trouble seeing the advantages that seem so
obvious to the rest of us.
Click to expand...
--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
 
It used to be that cars only came with English sizes for bolts, etc.

NOW (because of the metric system), we have to have both sets of tools.

Since the metric system is so "wonderfully simple", why'd they need to decide that wrenches should be 5mm, 6mm, 7mm, etc. Why not 12.7mm (for 1/2"), 15.875mm (for 5/8"), etc. ?
Steven Noyes said:
As it is now, I have to keep two %$#% sets of tools. This is true
also in machine shops around the world. The automotive industry.

No, the savings would be huge.

Still trying to justify that thing to my-self.
Click to expand...
--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
 
At 39 F (where water has its maximum density), it takes one BTU to raise a pound of water one deg F.

PS -- "metric fanatics" are so lazy, they won't tell you how much something weighs in Newtons, because they don't like the non-10 factor of G. ;) (Granted, we use lb-mass instead of slugs for this same reason).

I've never cared for Celsius when it comes to measuring weather temperatures. The degree Celcius is not nearly a fine enough unit of measure, as is the deg F.

PPS -- the simple way to convert from F to C (and vice versa). This works because both systems are the same temperature at -40. IE, -40 C is equal to -40 F

Take the temperature. Add 40 to it. Multiply by 9/5 (or by 5/9) depending on which way you're converting. Then subtract 40. Voila!

Also, if you need to subtract 97cents from some amount, just subtract a dollar, then add 3 pennies. Both simple computations.

People make math too hard, and don't take advantage of its wonderful intracicies.
Steven Noyes said:
How many BTUs to warm a pound of water on deg F
To within 1% is fine. The calculations are a pain. Metric makes
this easier. Some day we Americans will wake up and realize that
keeping with an archaic system like feet, inches, mile, Deg F, Rankin,
Pecks, Pints, Bushels, Barrels and fort-nights is just ludicrous.

Besides 48 degrees does not sound as bad as 118 in the summer.
Click to expand...
--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
 
However, if I recall correctly, British gallons aren't the same as US ones. First, British gallons are 160 ounces, not 128. Second, the US still uses the old British Wine Standard, with ounces that are roughly 5% larger than modern British ounces. Britain dropped the Wine Standard (which includes gills and half-gills) in the 1860s and replaced it with the Imperial system now being used.
Steven Noyes said:
Just got back from there and while they would like to think they
are metric, they are still based in Stones, Oz, Gallons (except for
Gas), Miles, feet and inches.
Click to expand...
--
James
 
On that basis, unambiguously monotheistic religions would have God prescribing a base 1 system. Base 1 systems have certain, shall we say. limitations....

You could argue of course that God must have intended a base 10 system since he gave us 10 fingers (not that I'm suggesting that ANY of our forum members would ever count using their fingers)
Michael Thomas Mitchell said:
M
DavidP said:
Michael Thomas Mitchell said:
... you folk REALLY WILL argue about ANYTHING!
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--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
James
 
The point is David, that the English system does not provide for easy
conversion between Energy, work, length, temperature and mass. Having
worked in metrology for 5 years, I understand how nasty the whole thing
is and how much nicer metric is. Especially temperature. 0 degrees
and 100 degrees. Sure beets the 32 degrees and 212 (half a circle of
180 degrees away) thing. Precision is gained by simply adding a decimal
like 43.4 degrees.

The other thing is that keeping two systems of measurements costs the
American tax payer lots of money. It is because of Engineers that are
too stubborn to change that we lost the Mars Global Surveyor. It also
this mentality that requires most machine shops to be tooled for both
systems. It would be cheaper to be tooled for only one.

The ONLY advantage the English system has is that it provides a warm
blanket that people are use to (even if most do not understand). In
less than a generation, we could change to the official units supported
by the US Government (but not used) and be able to join a world economy
that already uses metric.

Steven

--
---
My really bad Fall Adventures:
http://www.pbase.com/snoyes/fall_adventures_2002
 
DavidP said:
So, since you normally have to use "aids" (calculator / computer)
anyway to do any meaningful calculations, what's the big deal if
you also need the calculator to do a few unit conversions?
Click to expand...
Because you can approximate things and check to see if the answer the calculator gave you is reasonable. It's understanding vs. bllindly trusting machinery.

Anyway, I guess it depends a lot on what you do for a living and how much math you need to do on a daily basis. For engineers, scientists and other people who regularly use math type conversions are very common. Those are also the groups that almost universally like the metric system. ;) (The odds are that the pros know what they're talking about)
 
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