Quotescale it by a factor of 5Can't you scale dimensions in any unit, though? Can you elaborate?Of course you can. It's just more difficult, than sticking with one unit. You could scale linear measurements in inches just as easily as cm, or metres and the same could be said about a recipe in oz vs grammes. The problem occurs with imperial is more than one unit is normally necessary. Any tape measure longer than 60", has both feet and inches.
In reality you'll have 6"8', rather than 80", unless you're working on something quite small, which makes life harder, than just using cm.
and weighing scales, for masses over a few pounds, have both pounds and oz.
My point was just use one measurement, so keep it to degrees, as it's what everyone uses and the benefits of multiples of 10 don't apply to angles.
Degrees, arcminiutes and arcseconds are pretty close to an optimum system.
QuoteWe use imperial for the highest levels of precision manufacturing/machiningAs did the UK and most of Europe until we realised metric was easier to use, so we migrated towards it.
It's far easier to just use the SI system which is designed from the ground up.
There's no point in having 50 or so different units for length, mass, volume, area, etc.
just use one.
And would a metric carton of eggs only have 10 instead of 12?
Hmm 10 eggs. But what for people with 6 fingers on each hand to do now?
And would a metric carton of eggs only have 10 instead of 12?
This demonstrates perfectly the arrogance of why the US hasn't gone metric
The answer is YES, egg cartons in other countries are often 10 eggs. Your pre-conceived notion that they must have 12 is exactly that, pre-conceived.
Have a look at the photo in the wikipedia article "Egg Carton"
(Attachment Link)
Now buying EGGS by the dozen shows our "arrogance".
The UK is supposed to be metric, but people there still measure their weight in "stone" (1 stone = 14 pounds = 6.35 kg).
The pre-conceived notion that it's ridiculous to sell them in anything except 12s, demonstrates that arrogance.
Now buying EGGS by the dozen shows our "arrogance".
What about dice?
The convention for 6 and 9 is that the line goes below the numeral.
Degrees, arcminiutes and arcseconds are pretty close to an optimum system.You kinda just slapped metric in the face. You're making an exception because of history/standard/popularity.
QuoteQuoteWe use imperial for the highest levels of precision manufacturing/machiningAs did the UK and most of Europe until we realised metric was easier to use, so we migrated towards it.Yeah, every country used the only things they have available at the time. But I don't think most of Europe was equally deeply invested in mass-manufacturing/machining tech before switching to metric. W/e qualified as that in mid 1800's was not the kind of investment/tech that exists in UK. Multiply that a lot to start to compare to US.QuoteIt's far easier to just use the SI system which is designed from the ground up.Sure it is, in general. Why did it take you guys over 100 years? You didn't know this from the start? Are you saying that UK's brightest minds just figured this out?
No, I did not. You just don't understand the difference between angles and linear measurements, hence the requirement for powers of ten being unimportant. An Angle of 360 degrees, a turn, 400 gradians etc. is the same as zero, so there is no need for standard SI prefixes such as M, k, G etc. There may be rare occasions for larger numbers, i.e a screw might need to be rotated more than 360 degrees, but what we'd normally say is x number of turns.
I'm sure the educated people in the UK already knew of the superiority of the SI system. It just took a long time for the government to make it standard.
QuoteThe convention for 6 and 9 is that the line goes below the numeral.
Just as long as you decide before you throw them. You never know, cuz of places like Australia.
They drive on the left; they call them 4x2's; record heat in December summer; the toilet flushes the wrong way, even.
What difference? Why 360? This is a kings foot, is it not? The we divide these degrees into 60 minutes. Then these into another 60 seconds. These are barley corns, aren't they?
Grads you can divide into 100ths to get metric grad minutes. Each grad on earth's surface is 100 km. Each grad-minute 1 km. Each grad-second 10 meters. Isn't this easier than division of 60ths? Yes, it is, because of our number system.
So basically, I still don't understand, and you're further post is not helping me to understand.
QuoteI'm sure the educated people in the UK already knew of the superiority of the SI system. It just took a long time for the government to make it standard.The American people understand the advantages of metric. They already made it standard and have no plan/desire to deprecate/eradicate their other standard of measure. They like both.