[quote=ThatShadow]Maybe you don't. But when people tell me the temp is in the 20s, I'd like to know if it's 20 or 29[/quote] And you can get even more specific with the Imperial system? 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 Celsius) is a lot different from ~84 degrees Fahrenheit (29 Celsius).
Being base 2, the imperial system was just too ahead of its time. Had mankind been thinking in binary, where a 1 is an open finger and a 0 is a clenched finger, we can store 0-1023 (0000000000 to 1111111111) on our hands and the imperial system would have been more convenient.
The metric system is just an outcome of the base 10 numerical system developed in Eurasia due to the digits on our hands, and grants no real merits.
OT: The imperial system (and eventually the computer) was created by the English (not Americans), and "coincidentally" the French created the metric system and SI units... Had the computer been powerful enough to impact society at that time, we would've used the Imperial System rather than System Internationale.
I had so much trouble converting that to this day I don't even know the numbers, there's just a conversion app on my phone. Even the tests I've taken have given up and just gave the conversion units. It's an extra step or two in dimensional analysis and can get pretty annoying.
I'm American and I like the metric system better for height, weight (kg are a measurement of mass, not weight, and F=ma, weight is Newtons/Pounds)*, etc. Only exception is for baking (volume). The metric system was designed for math and science, not for culinary use.
Recipes are in teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, etc. Who asks for 238mL of flour rather than 1 cup of flour? Sure, you could ask 454 grams of sugar rather than 1 cup, but who has time to pour sugar on a scale?
Teaspoons, cups, and tablespoons are all something people have lying around, not graduated cylinders, triple beam balances, and beakers.
Additionally, the metric system's advantage only lies in the way people do math normally, in a base 10 number system.
In fact, ask a computer (which calculates in a base 2 number system) and the Imperial system beats the Metric System, because many items are broken into binary: 1pound is broken into 1/2 pound, 1/4 pound, 1/8 pound, etc. 1 Gallon is broken into 1/2 gallon, 1/4 gallon (a quart), 1/8 gallon (a pint), 1/16 gallon (a cup), and 1/16th cup is 1 tablespoon and 1/256th of a gallon These are measurements that are already in a base 2 unit of measurement so computers can actually comprehend it easier, so they become nice an whole in binary:
Compared to: mL:----: 00000001 mL Liter---: 1111100111 mL
1G ~ 9.8 m/s^2 (needs a float to store this) ~32 ft/s^2 (can be stored as 00100000)
While the Imperial system has its faults, there are many faults in the metric system as well: Water boils at 100deg Celcius: Only applies at standard atmospheric, temperature, and pressure (aka sea level, probably in Europe) Kilograms is not a measurement of weight, it's a measurement of mass. Mix up mass and weight and you don't pass 1st course physics. *The unit of mass in imperial is a slug, and 1 pound accelerates a slug by a foot per second squared. This is how Newton did his math.
Thus, before bashing the imperial system, look at the faults in the metric system and use the system that fits better according to the situation
@Weeeeew: Computers like the imperial system better. TL;DR: Imperial system is better understood by computers. If math was done in binary rather than base 10, metric would never have been invented.
[quote=ThatShadow]CELCIUS is better for how temperatures relate to humans because it gives a MORE CONCISE range. In EVERY COUNTRY BESIDES USA where most CONTINENT have considerable temperature fluctuations during the year, it's easier to get an understanding of how it feels outside.[/quote] This literally makes no sense. When you're measuring exterior temperature, you don't want concision.
[quote=WetDuck]You can't tell me that a range from 32 degrees to 212, for freezing to boiling water respectively, makes more sense than a range of 0 to 100.[/quote] For science, yes. For exterior temperature, no.
@Momijii@ThatShadow Are you guys really going to go back and forth with this? You each feel they give a better understanding because that's the system you're used to.
Anyway, @Weeeeew The basic problem with metric vs imperial is that they both spawn from two different environments.
Metric spawned from scientists in a lab. It works great in a lab. Everything is very precise, very orderly, and while they're in the lab they don't have to give a crap about the real world. They need to divide something in half and it comes out with a .5 in it, then they need to cut it in thirds afterward? What the hell, they don't care about a few repeating decimals here or there, they're scientists.
"Imperial" spawned from everyday people using the relatively standard things they had on hand to measure with.
Want to know why we use tablespoons/teaspoons for cooking? Because it could be assumed that just about every household had at least one "Table Spoon" and "Tea Spoon" on hand already. No need to go out buying special measuring devices. Need a 1/2 teaspoon or 1/4 teaspoon? Measure a full one on the chopping board, slice it with the back of your kitchen knife. This is how most home cooking operated.
A standard cup? Guess what - a standard cup.
Everyday devices for everyday measurement. No need to go buy special, laboratory-grade equipment specially tailored to exacting specifications just to make your breakfast. No need to try to measure out the quantity of applesauce you're putting into your latkes in a graduated cylinder.
TLDR: For everyday private life, SI/Metric has no clear advantages over the US customary system. There is nothing compelling about a kilometer or a meter that makes it a clear and necessary replacement for the mile or foot.
So why demand that every country in the world use the same measurement? Countries have their own currencies, so why do measurement systems need to conform? At the most we just need a basic understanding of it for whenever we have to trade with another country.
[quote=Momijii]Fahrenheit is better for how temperatures relate to humans because it gives a wider range. In the US where most regions have considerable temperature fluctuations during the year, it's easier to get an understanding of how it feels outside.[/quote]
Only touching on the matter of simplicity here:
You can't tell me that a range from 32 degrees to 212, for freezing to boiling water respectively, makes more sense than a range of 0 to 100.
CELCIUS is better for how temperatures relate to humans because it gives a MORE CONCISE range. In EVERY COUNTRY BESIDES USA where most CONTINENT have considerable temperature fluctuations during the year, it's easier to get an understanding of how it feels outside.
[quote=roflcopter79]How's it silly[/quote] Fahrenheit is better for how temperatures relate to humans because it gives a wider range. In the US where most regions have considerable temperature fluctuations during the year, it's easier to get an understanding of how it feels outside.
The US should switch, but it'd be hard for people since they've lived their whole lives using imperial units and it would be weird to switch so suddenly. But I think the US has slowly been switching since more and more items have the metric measurement on them.
Yeah, I agree (in a small way with you). Being from Canada, I found it a little hard (annoying) getting used to their backwards system of measurement for my classes. Luckily it isn't so bad in Chemistry.
Edit: As for your Autistic remark; That's very disrespectful. >.<
If anyone ever has the time/are interested, they should consider reading the (soon to be) trilogy by A.G Riddle. (The Atlantis Gene, The Atlantis Plague, and The Atlantis World (temporary title; still in works). It's a science fiction book, but has an incredible amount of real, concrete facts put into it (especially pertaining to history and biologiy), but that's besides the point. The author gives Autism a great little "twist," if you'll call it that. He doesn't view it as a handicap, liability, or a hindrance. I won't mention much more, as it's better if you just read the books. It might change your view on Autism.
21 Comments • Newest first
[quote=ThatShadow]Maybe you don't. But when people tell me the temp is in the 20s, I'd like to know if it's 20 or 29[/quote]
And you can get even more specific with the Imperial system? 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 Celsius) is a lot different from ~84 degrees Fahrenheit (29 Celsius).
@Momijii: Maybe you don't. But when people tell me the temp is in the 20s, I'd like to know if it's 20 or 29
[quote=RitoPls]Autism Awareness Month?
America pls[/quote]
[url=http://www.autism-society.org/get-involved/national-autism-awareness-month/]Yes, actually.[/url] I wasn't joking...
Being base 2, the imperial system was just too ahead of its time. Had mankind been thinking in binary, where a 1 is an open finger and a 0 is a clenched finger, we can store 0-1023 (0000000000 to 1111111111) on our hands and the imperial system would have been more convenient.
The metric system is just an outcome of the base 10 numerical system developed in Eurasia due to the digits on our hands, and grants no real merits.
OT: The imperial system (and eventually the computer) was created by the English (not Americans), and "coincidentally" the French created the metric system and SI units...
Had the computer been powerful enough to impact society at that time, we would've used the Imperial System rather than System Internationale.
YOLO this the American life SWAG...
I had so much trouble converting that to this day I don't even know the numbers, there's just a conversion app on my phone. Even the tests I've taken have given up and just gave the conversion units.
It's an extra step or two in dimensional analysis and can get pretty annoying.
I'm American and I like the metric system better for height, weight (kg are a measurement of mass, not weight, and F=ma, weight is Newtons/Pounds)*, etc.
Only exception is for baking (volume). The metric system was designed for math and science, not for culinary use.
Recipes are in teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, etc. Who asks for 238mL of flour rather than 1 cup of flour?
Sure, you could ask 454 grams of sugar rather than 1 cup, but who has time to pour sugar on a scale?
Teaspoons, cups, and tablespoons are all something people have lying around, not graduated cylinders, triple beam balances, and beakers.
Additionally, the metric system's advantage only lies in the way people do math normally, in a base 10 number system.
In fact, ask a computer (which calculates in a base 2 number system) and the Imperial system beats the Metric System, because many items are broken into binary:
1pound is broken into 1/2 pound, 1/4 pound, 1/8 pound, etc.
1 Gallon is broken into 1/2 gallon, 1/4 gallon (a quart), 1/8 gallon (a pint), 1/16 gallon (a cup), and 1/16th cup is 1 tablespoon and 1/256th of a gallon
These are measurements that are already in a base 2 unit of measurement so computers can actually comprehend it easier, so they become nice an whole in binary:
Table spoon: 00000001 tbs
1 Fluid ounce: 00000010 tbs
1/4 Cup-----: 00000100 tbs
1/2 Cup-----: 00001000 tbs
Cup----------: 00010000 tbs
Pint----------: 00100000 tbs
Quart--------: 01000000 tbs
Gallon-------: 100000000 tbs (1 byte and 1 bit)
Compared to:
mL:----: 00000001 mL
Liter---: 1111100111 mL
1G ~ 9.8 m/s^2 (needs a float to store this)
~32 ft/s^2 (can be stored as 00100000)
While the Imperial system has its faults, there are many faults in the metric system as well:
Water boils at 100deg Celcius: Only applies at standard atmospheric, temperature, and pressure (aka sea level, probably in Europe)
Kilograms is not a measurement of weight, it's a measurement of mass. Mix up mass and weight and you don't pass 1st course physics.
*The unit of mass in imperial is a slug, and 1 pound accelerates a slug by a foot per second squared. This is how Newton did his math.
Thus, before bashing the imperial system, look at the faults in the metric system and use the system that fits better according to the situation
@Weeeeew: Computers like the imperial system better.
TL;DR: Imperial system is better understood by computers. If math was done in binary rather than base 10, metric would never have been invented.
I prefer the imperial system for things like peoples height, weight, and temperature.
[quote=Pashmimi]Seriously? It's autism awareness month, can we stop using autistic as an insult?
I don't understand the imperial system. 12 inches is 1 foot? 12=1? Cannot comprehend.[/quote]
Autism Awareness Month?
America pls
[quote=ThatShadow]CELCIUS is better for how temperatures relate to humans because it gives a MORE CONCISE range. In EVERY COUNTRY BESIDES USA where most CONTINENT have considerable temperature fluctuations during the year, it's easier to get an understanding of how it feels outside.[/quote]
This literally makes no sense. When you're measuring exterior temperature, you don't want concision.
[quote=WetDuck]You can't tell me that a range from 32 degrees to 212, for freezing to boiling water respectively, makes more sense than a range of 0 to 100.[/quote]
For science, yes. For exterior temperature, no.
@Momijii @ThatShadow Are you guys really going to go back and forth with this? You each feel they give a better understanding because that's the system you're used to.
Anyway, @Weeeeew The basic problem with metric vs imperial is that they both spawn from two different environments.
Metric spawned from scientists in a lab. It works great in a lab. Everything is very precise, very orderly, and while they're in the lab they don't have to give a crap about the real world. They need to divide something in half and it comes out with a .5 in it, then they need to cut it in thirds afterward? What the hell, they don't care about a few repeating decimals here or there, they're scientists.
"Imperial" spawned from everyday people using the relatively standard things they had on hand to measure with.
Want to know why we use tablespoons/teaspoons for cooking? Because it could be assumed that just about every household had at least one "Table Spoon" and "Tea Spoon" on hand already. No need to go out buying special measuring devices. Need a 1/2 teaspoon or 1/4 teaspoon? Measure a full one on the chopping board, slice it with the back of your kitchen knife. This is how most home cooking operated.
A standard cup? Guess what - a standard cup.
Everyday devices for everyday measurement. No need to go buy special, laboratory-grade equipment specially tailored to exacting specifications just to make your breakfast. No need to try to measure out the quantity of applesauce you're putting into your latkes in a graduated cylinder.
TLDR: For everyday private life, SI/Metric has no clear advantages over the US customary system. There is nothing compelling about a kilometer or a meter that makes it a clear and necessary replacement for the mile or foot.
So why demand that every country in the world use the same measurement? Countries have their own currencies, so why do measurement systems need to conform? At the most we just need a basic understanding of it for whenever we have to trade with another country.
[quote=Momijii]Fahrenheit is better for how temperatures relate to humans because it gives a wider range. In the US where most regions have considerable temperature fluctuations during the year, it's easier to get an understanding of how it feels outside.[/quote]
Only touching on the matter of simplicity here:
You can't tell me that a range from 32 degrees to 212, for freezing to boiling water respectively, makes more sense than a range of 0 to 100.
@above
CELCIUS is better for how temperatures relate to humans because it gives a MORE CONCISE range. In EVERY COUNTRY BESIDES USA where most CONTINENT have considerable temperature fluctuations during the year, it's easier to get an understanding of how it feels outside.
[quote=roflcopter79]How's it silly[/quote]
Fahrenheit is better for how temperatures relate to humans because it gives a wider range. In the US where most regions have considerable temperature fluctuations during the year, it's easier to get an understanding of how it feels outside.
[quote=Momijii]Metric system is only useful in science. Telling the outdoor temperature to someone in Celsius is very silly.[/quote]
How's it silly
Metric system is only useful in science. Telling the outdoor temperature to someone in Celsius is very silly.
The US should switch, but it'd be hard for people since they've lived their whole lives using imperial units and it would be weird to switch so suddenly.
But I think the US has slowly been switching since more and more items have the metric measurement on them.
Yeah, I wish the US would switch. It'd make things a lot easier for us.
Yeah, I agree (in a small way with you). Being from Canada, I found it a little hard (annoying) getting used to their backwards system of measurement for my classes. Luckily it isn't so bad in Chemistry.
Edit: As for your Autistic remark; That's very disrespectful. >.<
If anyone ever has the time/are interested, they should consider reading the (soon to be) trilogy by A.G Riddle. (The Atlantis Gene, The Atlantis Plague, and The Atlantis World (temporary title; still in works). It's a science fiction book, but has an incredible amount of real, concrete facts put into it (especially pertaining to history and biologiy), but that's besides the point. The author gives Autism a great little "twist," if you'll call it that. He doesn't view it as a handicap, liability, or a hindrance. I won't mention much more, as it's better if you just read the books. It might change your view on Autism.
[quote=Weeeeew]WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG
U R WRONG
WRONG
ONLY THE AUTISTIC POPULATION OF AMERICA DOES[/quote]
Seriously? It's autism awareness month, can we stop using autistic as an insult?
I don't understand the imperial system. 12 inches is 1 foot? 12=1? Cannot comprehend.
@Weeeeew You are a god. Thank you sir.