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Death by Inches: The battle over the metric system in America

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Re: Death by Inches: The battle over the metric system in America

#101

Post by MrJagil »

Natsu wrote: post #74
vpeters25 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The author is full of it. Whichever system you grew up with will seem natural to you This is true to at least my case: grew up under the metric system and after 15 years living in the US, still have to mentally convert dimensions to metric in order to make sense of them: - If you point at something and ask me how far it is, the first number that comes to my mind is in meters, then I say that number and add "yards"…

Just FYI, "feets" isn't a word. The plural of feet is feet :) Similarly, "softwares" isn't a word either, but I hear it a lot. There's only software. I say this because it's a common mistake among people who speak well, otherwise.

Interestingly, and to my big surprise, "fishes" is quite correct!

Re: Death by Inches: The battle over the metric system in America

#102

Post by nemo »

harshpotatoes wrote: post #53

Could you imagine Boeing/lockheed/GM/some some oil company or any other manufacturer going up to their stockholders and saying: "This next year, profits will be significantly reduced as we replace every piece of equipment we own, replace every 1/4-20 screw with an M5, and redesign every aircraft/automobile/widget to meet new metric specifications"

Boeing has run into occasional problems by holding to imperial rather than moving to metric and these will only get worse, esp. with their model of using vendors around the globe. In aerospace it's ugly since imperial is so entrenched, but other industries have retooled, there are examples to learn from for efficient transitions.

GM already went metric.

Lockheed destroyed a half-billon dollar space mission by clinging to imperial.

Re: Death by Inches: The battle over the metric system in America

#104

Post by gilrain »

Havoc wrote: post #99
jwecker wrote: post #89

I am not anti-metric by any means, but having done carpentry a lot in the past it always strikes me when this comes up that one of the central arguments for (a limited use-case of) the imperial system is usually glossed over: the fact that in many crafts (especially historically), using base-12 makes certain things much easier. It divides into 3rds far more easily, divides into 4ths slightly more easily, and still di…

>a rational practical reason for sticking in some cases to Imperial units That to me is the worst of both worlds. The optimal solution is to use one consistent system and the winner is pretty clear. >carpentry Certainly. The future is full of 3D printers though.

Wood is an easily workable, relatively inexpensive, and, importantly, renewable resource. We'll be seeing more of 3D printing for sure, but you're kidding yourself if you think it'll replace carpentry.

Re: Death by Inches: The battle over the metric system in America

#105

Post by kalleboo »

harshpotatoes wrote: post #53

Could you imagine Boeing/lockheed/GM/some some oil company or any other manufacturer going up to their stockholders and saying: "This next year, profits will be significantly reduced as we replace every piece of equipment we own, replace every 1/4-20 screw with an M5, and redesign every aircraft/automobile/widget to meet new metric specifications"

Could you imagine Boeing/lockheed/GM/some some oil company or any other manufacturer going up to their stockholders and saying: "We're going to avoid the metric that most parts are manufactured in (economies of scale) and most of our outsourcing partners are familiar with (risk of errors) and instead stick to customary measures because a foot feels 'more natural'"

Re: Death by Inches: The battle over the metric system in America

#106

Post by sb057 »

jwecker wrote: post #89

I am not anti-metric by any means, but having done carpentry a lot in the past it always strikes me when this comes up that one of the central arguments for (a limited use-case of) the imperial system is usually glossed over: the fact that in many crafts (especially historically), using base-12 makes certain things much easier. It divides into 3rds far more easily, divides into 4ths slightly more easily, and still di…

Here's a page featuring more examples like you mentioned.

http://www.dozenalsociety.org.uk/metrix/pontius

Re: Death by Inches: The battle over the metric system in America

#107

Post by kalleboo »

rakoo wrote: post #100
harshpotatoes wrote: post #53

Could you imagine Boeing/lockheed/GM/some some oil company or any other manufacturer going up to their stockholders and saying: "This next year, profits will be significantly reduced as we replace every piece of equipment we own, replace every 1/4-20 screw with an M5, and redesign every aircraft/automobile/widget to meet new metric specifications"

It's not like the metric system was invented yesterday and will vanish tommorrow. Change doesn't have to be instantaneous, it can be gradual over the years (and, as the article pointed out, already is)

> Change doesn't have to be instantaneous, it can be gradual over the years

As an example, NASA is partially-metric, partially-imperial. Of course, they have that famous failure attributed to mixing units...

Re: Death by Inches: The battle over the metric system in America

#108

Post by keithpeter »

UnoriginalGuy wrote: post #85
keithpeter wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UK: we work in Imperial but things are officially priced in metric, except for beer. Petrol is in pence/litre. So you get price per lb and per kg. Lengths are in millimetres on builders plans (to avoid mistakes with decimal points) but road signs are in miles. Makes teaching basic maths to adults a bit more fun... http://sohcahtoa.org.uk/pages/maths_market-metric-proportion... You would be surprised how many people h…

It depends a huge amount on age. Younger people in the UK use metric except where imperial is already the de-facto standard (pints, MpH, etc). It is really just older generations who continue to use imperial and to push it all over the place (often inappropriately). At least all food labeling has been standardised on metric (which honestly for cooking and monitoring food intake is a huge improvement). I can like with…

"Younger people in the UK use metric except where imperial is already the de-facto standard (pints, MpH, etc)."

News to me. I teach a few hundred 17-19 year olds each year. They are very hazy about any form of actual measurement.

Re: Death by Inches: The battle over the metric system in America

#109

Post by ScottBurson »

walshemj wrote: post #88
Natsu wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just FYI, "feets" isn't a word. The plural of feet is feet :) Similarly, "softwares" isn't a word either, but I hear it a lot. There's only software. I say this because it's a common mistake among people who speak well, otherwise.

And "codes" !!

Actually, the use of "code" as a count noun is quite old and well entrenched in the numerical modelling community. I can recall back in the early 1970s hearing Fortran programs routinely referred to as "codes".

Re: Death by Inches: The battle over the metric system in America

#110

Post by phaemon »

jwecker wrote: post #89

I am not anti-metric by any means, but having done carpentry a lot in the past it always strikes me when this comes up that one of the central arguments for (a limited use-case of) the imperial system is usually glossed over: the fact that in many crafts (especially historically), using base-12 makes certain things much easier. It divides into 3rds far more easily, divides into 4ths slightly more easily, and still di…

It's hardly "glossed over". It's brought up every time metric/imperial is discussed and it never makes any sense.

Standard lengths for timber are things like 240cm or 360cm. There is no difficulty dividing them into thirds, or quarters, or fifths, or sixths.

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