Why doesn't the USA adopt officially the metric unit?

[wardric]

4 km is 4000 meters. I answered it in a small fraction of a second.

How many feet is 4 miles. You have .0001 second to answer.

BZZZZ... too late

 

[dlndavid]

This whole debate is giving me a headache - which could easily be solved by taking 500 mg of tylenol and a half litre bottle of diet coke. Actually, this headache could be caused by the .750 litre bottle of wine I had last night. No, its probably because this damn laptop is too slow. It has a 1 gigahertz processor and I really need about a 3 gigahertz processor. Whatever the cause, I really need to get rid of this headache before I go run that 5 k later today.

I sure am glad we don't have to deal with that metric crap in the united states!

 

[Skull]

Ok it is exactly 7.598 km to costco you need to make the trip 5 times in three hours how fast do you need to travel to accomplish this? now do the same problem in Imperial measurements .


If you don't get my point then I suggest you listen to Geoff in Tokyo and become enlightened.

 

[D_B]

4 km is 4000 meters. I answered it in a small fraction of a second.

How many feet is 4 miles. You have .0001 second to answer.

BZZZZ... too late

my quick answer is 20,000 feet + .... good enough to get a handle on it, but far from precise

I love how you can convert Metric "feet" into "miles" then back to "inches" using the metric system .. try that when using SI inches, feet and miles

Its converting one to the other is where some (me too) have difficulty

My rough but workable tips that keep me sane (sorta) ..

25mm to the inch , 4 inches to 100mm ("4 quarters to a dollar")
28C is 82F (switch numbers around)

 

[Skull]

Furthermore to all of the SI lovers can you visualize half a gallon of liquid or a quart or pint . Now visualize .625 of a liter of a liquid. You must first measure the liquid then convert the value into a usable fraction mentally to visualize the measurement. I can see in my mind what a quart looks like ...it is exactly 1/4 of a gal. Albeit really simplistic however very useful on a daily basis. You will say I need 500 mLt or 625 mLt .125 mLt ... I like the visual of 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 , 5/8 ... the units themselves are arbitrary it is the value in the quantity which provides simplicity to the mathamatics.

So really in my view the unit of measurement is really arbitrary to the execution of the measurements.

 

[Zeeman]

I love this debate. It's great, it's like watching the old guard take on the fresh blood. Sooner or later, the old guard will die, but, they sure will take a heck of a lot of the new blood with them!!!

Due to the industry I'm in, and my travel habits, I am getting pretty good with switching from one to the other. I still roll my eyes when I hear 2 feet, 8 and 3/16 inches.. what the heck is 3/16 of an inch anyway? I find mm far simpler to visualise.

As for using examples, I find it interesting that the supporters of both sides choose to pluck out figures that suit their particular system better..

Neither system is perfect, but.. I do have one question...

Where, exactly, is the prototype for the "pound" anyway?

Z...

 

[Skull]

Ahhh ok would this make you feel better 3/16 inches = .1875 inches ...and like wise 3/16 of a mm = .1875mm.

BTW look up the ANSI pound ..they have a few of them.

Zeeman you miss the point the SI system is a system of units of measurement ...not the actual measuring a unit. Just like the Imperial system. There is no advantage to either when executing the actual means of measuring each system. A yard stick and a meter stick are just that a means of measuring units.

 

[Charlie99]

I love how you can convert "feet" into "miles" then back to "inches" using the metric system .. try that when using "real" inches, feet and miles

Imperial liquid measure can get particularly obtuse.

One time I was trying to mix up some concentrated insecticide and wanted to figure out if I could use a sprayer that automatically diluted 64 to 1. The dilution ratio listed on the container was something like 2 teaspoons per quart.

Eventually by converting both units to metric, I was able to figure out that the manufacturer's 2 teaspoons per quart is a dilution ratio of 100 to 1. Since then, there have been several times that the approximation of 1 teaspoon = 5ml has been useful.

 

[dlndavid]

give them an inch, and they'll want a mile

give them 25.4 millometers, and they'll want 1.61 kilometers :crafty

just doesn't have the same ring

 

[dlndavid]

Ok it is exactly 7.598 km to costco you need to make the trip 5 times in three hours how fast do you need to travel to accomplish this? now do the same problem in Imperial measurements .


If you don't get my point then I suggest you listen to Geoff in Tokyo and become enlightened.

25.32666 km/hour