Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why would sleeping time be a fraction of 2pi? > I'd guess that you're using rational numbers in the actual calculation anyways. Well, actually one uses floating point arithmetic, which isn't rational numbers either (as shown by the classic example a = 1/3, b = 3*a, then b != a)
> Why would sleeping time be a fraction of 2pi? The rotation of a hand of the clock, expressed as the arc length of the curve of its endpoint :) A sleeping time of 0 is always a problem, though.
Metric Time
271–280 of 343 posts
Re: Metric Time
#272Author has committed the classic blunder of ignoring the utility of a base that can be divided evenly into halves, thirds, quarters, sixths, and twelfths. Turns out the ancients knew something about head math because they had to.
Re: Metric Time
#273Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s almost certainly a rational number as activity in the body is finite. There will be an exact point at which a certain molecule has interacted with another molecule marking the exact point of perfect sleep. Averaging many rational numbers can’t get you an irrational number. Also it is invalid to compare infinite series like you do in your paracentesis argument, there are infinitely many irrational numbers and inf…
> will be an exact point at which a certain molecule has interacted with another molecule marking the exact point of perfect sleep Just because the best current theory suggests a smallest observable time span does not mean as a consequence that time is discrete.
Mabye... To me it seams like nothing is truly continuous i nature. But mabye there is such a thing somewere out there somewere.
But irrational numbers require definitions that contain or require recursion. Mabye physical time is built with such a recursive definition?
Re: Metric Time
#274Re: Metric Time
#275What I don't like about this is the redefinition of the second. The length of a second and its subdivisions is so fundamental to so much of everything in our society. Other physical quantities like speed or frequency or power all depend on it. You would have to redefine everything . Kilometers per "metric hour", "metric hertz", "metric watts-hours", you get the idea. > There is no AM or PM with metric time. It isn't…
"Das Konzert beginnt um 16:00" should not become "The concert starts at 4 PM"
Re: Metric Time
#276Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It’s an SI unit. There is really nothing scientific about time as we mortals use it. As soon as you bind the definition of time to the rotation of the earth, all bets are off about being "scientific". A day has x hours. An hour has y minutes. A minute has z seconds. Therefore, you have now defined a second as 1 / (x times y times z) What happens when the earth speeds up by a fraction of a second? Does the definitio…
Second is not bound to the rotation of the Earth. It’s bound to the speed of light (indirectly).
We can't define time with a day has x hours, an hour has y minutes, and a minute has z seconds.
If we define time outside of the rotation of the earth, metric is meaningless. We should be able to adjust. Let's say earth sped up. We should be able to say a day has more seconds now.
My guess is you define a second as the following?
A more precise definition of a second is the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium 133 atom.
Ok that's good. In practice, we aren't very scientific. It will matter whether a minute has 60 seconds or 61 seconds or 100 seconds. I'm guessing we will have bigger problems if earth rotation spend up or slowed down considerably anyway.
Re: Metric Time
#277Re: Metric Time
#278I see your Metric Time and I raise you a Dozenal Society of America. 12 is divisible into whole halves, thirds, and quarters. https://dozenal.org
Some of the dozenal measurement systems try to replace the second or meter, for example, which I don't think would be necessary. And some also try to redefine the clock, but honestly 2 sections of 10d hours is more than dozenal enough. And I like the blended base-60/base-12.
What's really interesting is trying to extend the calendar to base-12. Depending on whether you want to keep the 7-day week or switch to 6-day week or abolish the week altogether[1], you can come up with several different interesting concepts.
[1] Even though it had 7-day weeks, intercalary days outside of the week is what shot down the closest we've got to calendar reform since Gregory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Calendar
Re: Metric Time
#279I love how the example is super confusing. You sleep 3.33… metric hours. You fall asleep 9:50 metric time. You'd think we can just interchange the . and : so you should wake up 12:83…, or 2:83… the next day. But no, it's apparently 2:75 metric time. Why? Also nice how they IMMEDIATELY ran into a continuing fraction 1/3, which is exactly the point of the 60-minute hour, 24-hour day, or 360-degree circle: lots of facto…
> Also nice how they IMMEDIATELY ran into a continuing fraction 1/3, which is exactly the point of the 60-minute hour, 24-hour day, or 360-degree circle: lots of factors. While I agree in principle, this example is not evidence of it. It's not like we measured the amount of sleep needed and it's precisely 8 hours. A more reasonable thing to say would be: You need to sleep for 3.5 metric hours.
"Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest and eight hours for what you will."
Re: Metric Time
#280This is cool. However, for me, it's the months that are the weirdest issue. Why do we all get paid the same each month, pay the same rent/mortgage but some months have 4 weekends, some have 5. We should have 13 months, all 28 days long, exactly 4 weeks. Whenever there's a leap year we get an extra day for free. :-)
> Why do we all get paid the same each month, pay the same rent/mortgage but some months have 4 weekends, some have 5. Is paying monthly an American thing? In Australia most things seem to revolve around n weeks. - I get paid on Thu every second week (2 weeks) - My pre-paid phone auto-recharged is every 28 days (4 weeks). - House rentals are listed as weekly rates, paid at whatever n weeks you negotiate. - Mortgages…
Like pretty much everything else, it depends. On the income side, being paid biweekly is the norm in my experience, but some jobs pay semimonthly (my current job does and I kind of hate it). Recurring bills tend to be monthly, but I've had some which were weekly or biweekly. So it all kind of varies.