Some speculation about numbers

[NickStone]

I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VII, IX,X that is not even remotely base 10.

Why have you quoted VII (7) twice?

[oshunluvr]

Typo, I'd guess.

[jlittle]

This isn't a "British" thing. English speaking cultures appear to be slower in changing to a metric system, which is vastly newer than the duodecimal system.

Speak for your self. My English-speaking country went metric decades ago, when I was a youth. IMO the British generally didn't adopt the metric system early for two main reasons, they weren't conquered by Napoleon, and had a relatively well-defined standard system of their own. In Europe they had scarcely believable unsystematic weights and measures before metrication.
Britain itself was quite metric when I lived there in the 1980s, (I remember having to install a terminal and asking the young woman who'd be using it whether her desk was more than six feet from the nearest socket and getting a blank look until I then said two metres) except for their attachment to miles.

Regards, John Little

[vinnywright]

I work in a factory that makes wood drawers ,,,,, and we use both systems of measurement depending on the customer and or application .

in fact most of our blue prints will have both on them

|                         |  
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|<--------------->|  
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         19.05 mm
             0.75 in

VINNY

[tek_heretik]

I work in a factory that makes wood drawers ,,,,, and we use both systems of measurement depending on the customer and or application .

in fact most of our blue prints will have both on them

|                         |  
|                         |  
|<--------------->|  
|                         |  
|                         |  
         19.05 mm
             0.75 in

VINNY

It would appear by your example they are primarily going by imperial. I too have worked with both and conversion is a pain in the butt.

[vinnywright]

It would appear by your example they are primarily going by imperial. I too have worked with both and conversion is a pain in the butt.

which is why I have a convert pad app on my rooted HTC-G1 running a android 2.3.7 gingersense mod.- by Rusheeey <3

+our digital caliper's (Micrometer's) do both mm and in

thanks again @woodsmoke it still works swell

VINNY

[woodsmoke]

Thank you Vinny!

Tek:

conversion is a pain in the butt.

Yep, and that is why in all of my science classes in jr hi and high school, I just did not use the english system at all and did not do the conversions.

If the student is immersed in the system then the student gets used to it, although it is not "quite" as "human calibrated" as "english".

And, also, conversions, and lack thereof because of BOTH political parties "cutting back" on NASA, for their own religious agendas, one being agains big gubbmint and one wasting money in space instead of spending it here in the good ol USofA on medical care.....

is why the first mars lander buried itself a few meters/yards under the surface of Mars...

which was covered up and not talked about..

And, curiously, the one thing that students are asked to do on the standardized testing is do....conversions.... duuuhhhh and they get them wrong and the school and teachers are just evil because they failed the student.

I think we ought to throw it all out and go with Babylonian

It has four great advantages.

A) It is written in stone and so therefore will never change.
B) It is "dead" and so there is no way that this national group or that national group can have a "problem" with it.
C) It already provides the unit of "time"....the "metric" units which would have 100 seconds have never caught on.
D) It's pretty!

it's one dis-advantage was that it did not have a "zero" which is kinda important....sooooo

one could turn that to an advantage! Create a whole new branch of mathematicians, and government bureaucrats, and manufacturers......to scaffold a zero onto it...

hey....everybody could get in on the fun!

wood'sgreatlonglostgreat(tobase60)granddadwasachie fcookandbottlewasherforHammurabi'sfirstnephewonhis cousin'sside,secondremovedsmoke

[dmeyer]

Typo, I'd guess.

Well guessed, the second VII was supposed to be VIII

[Detonate]

The problem with dividing a circle into 360° is that in the time before digital computers it was difficult to do the math when making precise measurements involving degrees, minutes, seconds and even smaller more precise measurements. So in the artillery we invented a new circle measurement which divided it into 6400 equal parts which are referred to as mils. You can quickly see how this greatly simplified doing the complex calculations required to perform accurate fire missions. The use of 6400 mils is the standard for all western armies. However the Russians, and those armies that came under their influence use a circle of 6000 mils.

[richb]

I worked for a major corporation that declared in the late 1980's. "We are going metric". I was put on the steering committee. It never happened completely despite sweat and gold being expended. Too many legacy tools and equipment in use as was stated earlier by woodsmoke.

[oshunluvr]

Metric measurements are fine except temperature. How are you supposed to know how to dress? Is 29 cold or hot?

In Fahrenheit, it's easy: 50's = coat, 60's = sweater, 70's = shirt sleeves, 80's = short sleeves, 90's = air conditioning.

[Detonate]

I lived in a totally mixed measurement world for my twenty years in the US Army. Everything to do with navigation and firing data and many other things was metric. But Just about anything else was not. This was because it was felt to be very important for us to be compatible with our NATO Allies.

[tek_heretik]

Metric measurements are fine except temperature. How are you supposed to know how to dress? Is 29 cold or hot?

In Fahrenheit, it's easy: 50's = coat, 60's = sweater, 70's = shirt sleeves, 80's = short sleeves, 90's = air conditioning.

10's = coat, 20's = shirt, 30's = AC, 40's = stay home, close all the curtains, windows and doors, turn on every fan and AC, and don't forget to call in sick to work, lol.

[jlittle]

Metrication is a real boon for the building trades here; they measure *everything* linear (well, almost) in "mil", that is millimetres. Doors, baths, plaster board, nails, pipes... I've even seen plans for a house that had the roof line labelled as 6000 mm high. They use the word "metre" to refer to cubic metres, as in, say, a metre of sand. I reckon if the US and Canada could take the plunge they'd never look back.

Regards, John Little

[richb]

Metrication is a real boon for the building trades here; they measure *everything* linear (well, almost) in "mil", that is millimetres. Doors, baths, plaster board, nails, pipes... I've even seen plans for a house that had the roof line labelled as 6000 mm high. They use the word "metre" to refer to cubic metres, as in, say, a metre of sand. I reckon if the US and Canada could take the plunge they'd never look back.

Regards, John Little

We tried and failed.