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This is my favourite topic
Posted March 14, 2012
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hedwards: What's funny is that you seem to think that metric is better than imperial. The fact is that unless you're a scientist there's very little reason to use metric over imperial measures. What's more imperial does have a few advantages such as being more suited to fractions and not requiring one to go into negative territory just because it's slightly below freezing.
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keeveek: This is probably why the whole world is using metric system. It's because imperial is better, for sure :trollface:
The metric system is just simpler to use. I wasn't born in the 1850s so I don't have the natural reaction to imperial systems anyways. But living so close to the US, and filling up the car with gas in the US, I can do with it in a pinch.
Posted March 14, 2012
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keeveek: Every time i see that kind of things i wonder when US and UK switch to NORMAL dating / lenght / weight units. ;p
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hedwards: We won't be. The US was one of the few countries with a workable system of measure prior to the introduction of the metric system. Additionally, the scale of the job it would take to phase out the customary measurements and phase in metric ones would be nigh insurmountable.

We do use metric for some things like medication, some cars and softdrinks, but imagine how far Europe would have been down the road if they hadn't gotten to build from scratch and had to do it at once.
You make it sound as if American's claim right of invention for the imperial measurement.. I fucking hope you're kidding, or that I've misread you.
Post edited March 14, 2012 by Tormentfan
Posted March 14, 2012
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cymrean: You can add temperature to the debate. Fahrenheit scale is confusing, do 0 and 100 actually mean something on the scale?
0 = it's cold
100 = it's hot ; D

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bazilisek: I always thought this was a strange argument. I don't know about you, but for me it's much easier in my head to go 0.25 + 0.33 = 0.58, which I can find on a metric ruler pretty easily and quite accurately, than 1/4 + 1/3, that's... 3/12 + 4/12 = 7/12, which is... a bit more than a half?
I believe he was referring to temperature measurements, in which case there isn't much of a difference between the two beyond the scale and that Fahrenheit allows for more discrimination without delving into decimals.

The fractional stuff is a bit of a PITA, though. In my work, I use metric length measurements as much as possible: simpler math, and easier to read the measuring device.

Date-wise, the military taught me to go with dd/MMM/yyyy, or 14Mar2012 (dd/Mmm/yyyy). I like this one since there is no way to the mix up the month and day.
Posted March 14, 2012
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hedwards: For science Celsius definitely makes more sense, but for everyday living Fahrenheit is a much more useful scale. Mostly because you're nearly always in positive territory whereas with Celsius you routinely end up being in negative territory without it being particularly cold.
I'm afraid I disagree.

Celsius is better for everyday living, because it is based on temperatures you can relate to. You know how cold it feels at the temperature where water freezes. You know how hot boiling water feels. You automatically interpolate between the two, it's easy.

On the other hand, you have no clue how cold it is when brine freezes, and you don't have a clear idea of how hot the normal internal body temperature feels, for the obvious reason that it's internal.

The only reason Fahrenheit seems better for everyday living to you, is that you're used to it.
Posted March 14, 2012
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Ubivis: I think it is only the USA that have Pi-Day today...
And Hungary...
Posted March 14, 2012
Celsius is better for scientists and engineers, same with metric. The reason being is that numbers have to be precise, and with metric you have many more scales to use, especially given that many scales are on the smaller side: Centimeters, Millimeters, Nanometers, so on. Most measurements of physics are in metric as well (Gravity = 9.81 meters per second-squared, Current in Amps, Electric potential in Volts, force = Mass X Acceleration, and mass is easier to determine in metric because imperial doesn't have a true name for mass that's known commonly). Celsius cuts down on the size of your numbers as well. Example, freeze at 0, boil at 100. In imperial that's 32 and 283 I think.

Imperial is better for simplicity sake though when precision isn't a big deal. Fahrenheit is the exception as it scales better than Celsius, but it's only good for naturally occurring temperature and ovens. The rest of imperial is good for construction because the difference between 1/8th inch and 1/8.2 inch is hardly anything. That being said, it's better to be precise in the first place but in buildings a couple inches lost or gained over a couple dozen floors isn't a big issue. It also makes it a little easier to figure out sizes (Example: Everyone in the US can determine a gallon size by looking at it. Metric, you're trying to figure out the difference of 1 liter to .8 liter to 2 liter and so on. But then, we use liters for soda bottles.)
Post edited March 14, 2012 by QC
Posted March 14, 2012
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hedwards: What's funny is that you seem to think that metric is better than imperial.
Many, many American people that I know around me think the same.
Posted March 14, 2012
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QC: Everyone in the US can determine a gallon size by looking at it. Metric, you're trying to figure out the difference of 1 liter to .8 liter to 2 liter and so on. But then, we use liters for soda bottles.)
Waitwhat? Everyone in Europe can determine a litre by looking at it, with exactly the same degree of accuracy as Americans can determine a gallon. How does this make imperial units better?

And regarding the "simplicity" argument... I fail to see how 5 cm is more complicated to use than 2 inches. It's still a number followed by a unit.
Post edited March 14, 2012 by bazilisek
Posted March 14, 2012
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QC: Everyone in the US can determine a gallon size by looking at it. Metric, you're trying to figure out the difference of 1 liter to .8 liter to 2 liter and so on. But then, we use liters for soda bottles.)
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bazilisek: Waitwhat? Everyone in Europe can determine a litre by looking at it, with exactly the same degree of accuracy as Americans can determine a gallon. How does this make imperial units better?
You're missing the point. And I said the difference from 1 liter to .8 liter and in betweens. You're not going to tell the difference so readily without measuring it, but the US has separate names for measurements. And like I said before, BETTER FOR IMPRECISE!!!!. By the way, I put a whole paragraph about metric being better, and you're going to bug out over this one sentence? Actually, you're the third person to do that on me since last week.

Edit: And the centimeters thing: IMPRECISE VERSUS PRECISION!!!!!!!

Second edit: I've got two hours of class coming up so if there's anything more I've said that's giving you a rash I won't be able to reply till I'm back.
Post edited March 14, 2012 by QC
Posted March 14, 2012
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bazilisek: Waitwhat? Everyone in Europe can determine a litre by looking at it, with exactly the same degree of accuracy as Americans can determine a gallon. How does this make imperial units better?
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QC: You're missing the point. And I said the difference from 1 liter to .8 liter and in betweens. You're not going to tell the difference so readily without measuring it, but the US has separate names for measurements. And like I said before, BETTER FOR IMPRECISE!!!!. By the way, I put a whole paragraph about metric being better, and you're going to bug out over this one sentence? Actually, you're the third person to do that on me since last week.

Edit: And the centimeters thing: IMPRECISE VERSUS PRECISION!!!!!!!
There is nothing objective about this statement whatsoever.

This statement is relevent only to the point that you wish it to be and is therefore garbage. The veracity of your words cannot be verified by ANY outside non subjective terms.

What you have written is.. to put it politely.. POPPYCOCK.
Posted March 14, 2012
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QC: You're missing the point. And I said the difference from 1 liter to .8 liter and in betweens. You're not going to tell the difference so readily without measuring it, but the US has separate names for measurements.
But so does metric. There are decilitres and millilitres. Centilitres too, but no one ever uses those, because they're not very useful. Nor are decalitres, really, but they're there in case you need them.
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QC: And like I said before, BETTER FOR IMPRECISE!!!!. By the way, I put a whole paragraph about metric being better, and you're going to bug out over this one sentence? Actually, you're the third person to do that on me since last week.
Stop shouting and tell me how is "2 in" better than "5 cm" when used in colloquial speech (as in "there's a hole in the wall, and it's about two inches/five cm big"). Because all I'm saying is that both are perfectly interchangeable.
Posted March 14, 2012
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wodmarach: FTFY the UK has been metric for over 30 years the only reason the road signs stay in imperial is cause the government refuse to stump up the cash for new signage.
To the best of my knowledge, it's not been a cost issue, but rather the problem of drivers' associations and anti-EU elements screaming about invasions from Brussels and quoting some unreliable source about how switches to km/h would cause countless road accidents and dangerous driving.

I personally take my antiquated left-side drive Renault Mégane to the UK a lot and you'll always see some dickhead in Dover who takes a bit too long to get used to the left-hand drive principle and the road signs in mph. Last year we had some guy from Spain who literally decided that "30" meant 30km/h, and in the past we've seen people go around the wrong way on the roundabout leading to the M20 and try to overtake on the left on the M20 itself.

If anything is causing road accidents in the UK, it's the europhobes there insisting that everything be as different as possible to the rest of the EU, lest they be infected by the Brussels bureaucracy.
Post edited March 14, 2012 by jamyskis
Posted March 14, 2012
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jamyskis: If anything is causing road accidents in the UK, it's the europhobes there insisting that everything be as different as possible to the rest of the EU, lest they be infected by the Brussels bureaucracy.
Maybe you should all go back to your original sides (Anti british sentiments led to the road side change in france and it spread from there ;) )

But no most people in the UK were now raised with the metric system than imperial many of use wish the damn signs would switch over but the government still cites cost reasons for not changing (oh and "making the change over happen in 1 day would be uneconomical... changing the road side would cost 120-240 billion quid just for the motorways as it would require HUGE changes to their physical layout (on and off ramps are different lengths)
Post edited March 14, 2012 by wodmarach
Posted March 14, 2012
.Not worth the effort.

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jamyskis: If anything is causing road accidents in the UK, it's the europhobes there insisting that everything be as different as possible to the rest of the EU, lest they be infected by the Brussels bureaucracy.
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wodmarach: Maybe you should all go back to your original sides (Anti british sentiments led to the road side change in france and it spread from there ;) )

But no most people in the UK were now raised with the metric system than imperial many of use wish the damn signs would switch over but the government still cites cost reasons for not changing (oh and "making the change over happen in 1 day would be uneconomical... changing the road side would cost 120-240 billion quid just for the motorways as it would require HUGE changes to their physical layout (on and off ramps are different lengths)
As I said dude.. not worth the effort.

Europe is tearing itself apart atm..It'll be splintered again with in the decade, the ONLY thing that could stop it is Britain fully joining up and adopting the euro, and that's NEVER gonna happen.

At the end of the day, we'll be more stable than the rest of the so called union of European States because they'll be too busy scrabbling to put their countries back together again.
Post edited March 14, 2012 by Tormentfan
Posted March 14, 2012
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hedwards: with Celsius you routinely end up being in negative territory without it being particularly cold.
What the ...?
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This is my favourite topic
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General discussion (archive)3/14(101 posts)(101 posts)
(101 posts)