Metric Snow

[Worms]

I do have to wonder who thought up 5280 feet = 1760 yards = 1 mile.

 

Blimey Newt don't you know that?

 

It was the Romans

 

Said Julius Caesar with a smile,

one seven six nought yards in a mile.

 

Well that was the mnemonic bashed into me at school

[corydoras]

I was working in the UK as a plater ( boilermaker here ) when the change from imperial to metric came about.

 

Yes we struggled at first but working in metric in a trade is a whole lot better than working in imperial, i kid you not there is just no comparison.

 

 

Cheers Fred

I have a friend who is a irrigation engineer. He was a dyed-in-the wool imperial man until he went to live and work in the south of France. He would'nt go back to imperial for love nor money now.

[Steve Walker]

In a way it's a shame we've got 10 fingers and thumbs in total as this of course is why we use base 10 developed. Perhaps it would have been a lot easier to ignore thumbs and to have used base 8 instead.

 

There is of course an argument for base 12 as it's divisible by 3 as well, but then we'd need extra fingers. And of course 8 is 2 cubed so easier for binary counting that is the base for computers etc.

 

All wishful thinking of course, so decimalisation it is.

 

If we're going to count on fingers, base 2 it must be - how to count to 1023 using the fingers on two hands!

[Worms]

Just taken the dog for a paddle through the woods. This forum thread has been making me think.

 

I was trying to think of examples of imperial or older measurements still in common use today worldwide. Here are a couple:

 

Shotguns measured by gauge i.e the number of lead balls of the bore diameter that weigh 1lb. So my 12 bore (more accurately 12 gauge) would in metric be a 26.431718061674 etc..gauge (if it was the number of lead balls that made a kg) with 711.2mm barrels, choked at 0.25 and 0.5.

 

A .410 bore would be a 10.414mm bore

 

The world of archery, bows are still measured in imperial with brace height, bow length, draw length and arrows measured in inches and draw weight measured in pounds.

 

These are irrespective of country of manufacture.

 

Any more?

[corydoras]

If we're going to count on fingers, base 2 it must be - how to count to 1023 using the fingers on two hands!

There are only 10 kind of people in the world. Those who understand binary and those who don't.

[corydoras]

Just taken the dog for a paddle through the woods. This forum thread has been making me think.

 

I was trying to think of examples of imperial or older measurements still in common use today worldwide. Here are a couple:

 

Shotguns measured by gauge i.e the number of lead balls of the bore diameter that weigh 1lb. So my 12 bore (more accurately 12 gauge) would in metric be a 26.431718061674 etc..gauge (if it was the number of lead balls that made a kg) with 711.2mm barrels, choked at 0.25 and 0.5.

 

A .410 bore would be a 10.414mm bore

 

The world of archery, bows are still measured in imperial with brace height, bow length, draw length and arrows measured in inches and draw weight measured in pounds.

 

These are irrespective of country of manufacture.

 

Any more?

Tyres, bicycle frames and until very recently TV screens and computer displays. Even in France TVs were in 'puces'.

[captain cojones]

Tyres, bicycle frames and until very recently TV screens and computer displays. Even in France TVs were in 'puces'.

 

tv´s are in "pulgadas"here.

[Angly]

Ammunition, often in Imperial (eg .30'06, .303, .45)

 

Bullet and powder in grains

 

Gems in carats

 

Rod T/C in lbs

[corydoras]

Gems in carats

I found this in Wikipedia

Pound carat and ounce carat

 

There were also two varieties of refiners’ carats once used in the United Kingdom — the pound carat and the ounce carat. The pound troy was divisible into 24 pound carats of 240 grains troy each; the pound carat was divisible into four pound grains of 60 grains troy each; and the pound grain was divisible into four pound quarters of 15 grains troy each. Similarly, the ounce troy was divisible into 24 ounce carats of 20 grains troy each; the ounce carat was divisible into four ounce grains of 5 grains troy each; and the ounce grain was divisible into four ounce quarters of 1¼ grains troy each.

 

Sounds like a deliberate attempt at obfuscation to me