Metric system dumbs us down.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

KVB,
Oddly enough, if you have "the eye", you can do it in inches or metric measure. And if you don't, you haven't got it. I know a guy can see 25 mm. Now, to me, that's 10". He can also see 2.5, and I see that as 1", but slightly shy, 'cause I don't have the eye.

Trente Pieds,

Ah, well, how exact is 10 m.??????? ;-D

Ann

Really? or do you mean 25cm?

[JPA Cate]

Well, yes, Frank, I did. My bad. But just goes to show how hard it is for those of us who grew up with inches to do metric, key word here--reliably.

Ann

[El Pinguino]

I'm lucky and can work in either when it comes to length but have lost all ability with pounds , ounces, quarts etc.

However I too come unstuck with trying to keep up with all the zeros sometimes encountered in metric... as in 'this times that equals.... oops ... where did I put that decimal point........'

[K_V_B]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

KVB,
Oddly enough, if you have "the eye", you can do it in inches or metric measure. And if you don't, you haven't got it. I know a guy can see 25 mm. Now, to me, that's 10". He can also see 2.5, and I see that as 1", but slightly shy, 'cause I don't have the eye.

If 25mm is 10" to you, than you have a 10x magnification factor in your eyes :-)

Thing is, when estimating distances when on a boat I mostly will use "boatlengths"...

Krist

[JPA Cate]

^^^^You know what?


I goofed, big time. 10 cm. Sorry.

Ann

[44'cruisingcat]

No, 25mm isn't 10 cm either... :-)

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

^^^^You know what?


I goofed, big time. 10 cm. Sorry.

Ann

It's OK, we know you meant to type 25cm the first time and 10" here.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

^^^^You know what?


I goofed, big time. 10 cm. Sorry.

Ann

This brings up a good point.
- If you are mentally doing conversions, metric makes the math easier for simple calculations. If you want to convert from mm to cm, you just move the decimal point.
- If you are actually running serious calculations, you still need to keep track of units and conversion factors regardless of what system you use. Once you plug it into a computer, multiplying by 10, 12, 4, 5280, square root of PI, it really doesn't make much difference in the level of effort and is just as easy to trouble shoot any issues.

In fact it's likely easier to make a mistake with metric because it's tempting to cut corners and do part of the calculations in your head and part in the computer but since the only noticeable difference is the movement of the decimal point, it's easy to be off by a factor of 10 or 100.

[TrentePieds]

I think this is the most interesting thing of all in this thread:

Quote: "Thing is, when estimating distances when on a boat I mostly will use "boatlengths"...

Krist"

Truth will out, as they say. After nearly three hundred posts :-)!

So how about we all sing a few verses of "The Old Chariot"? All together now: "We'll be alright...."

TrentePieds

[nautitrix]

As I recall; when Canada, went metric, the hardest thing for most people was not the math of conversion in volumes and distances. It was trying to figure out what to wear when the temperature was given in degrees centigrade. How should I dress for 13 degrees C? with a wind speed of 17 kph.

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by nautitrix

As I recall; when Canada, went metric, the hardest thing for most people was not the math of conversion in volumes and distances. It was trying to figure out what to wear when the temperature was given in degrees centigrade. How should I dress for 13 degrees C? with a wind speed of 17 kph.

Wind speed should be given in m/s or knots. Easy to convert between those two.. IMHO

Ps. Long sweater and jeans should do if it's not raining..

[deblen]

There you metric folks do it again!!!
Canada converts to centigrade in 1970 & the metric folks change the term to Celsius a few yrs later.
We are just getting comfortable with kilometres & someone wants metres/second m/s.
Watts,joules, Newtons,kilograms.
The change in terms has been non-stop.
No wonder the avg. non tech. person, that is trying to convert,mid-life,from a familiar system to metric gets frustrated & loses interest quickly.
When the French finally decide on on the terms they would like us to use,please make them sign a 100 yr contract to not mess with metric any more.

And don't bother to tell me how to convert between all these metric terms-I'm quite capable of using a calculator. I just have no interest in lugging a calculator around 24/7 to accomplish my daily tasks.

What about the metric wrench (spanner) thing?
I can cover 1/4" thru 1" with 14 wrenches-1/4,5/16,3/8,7/16,1/2,9/16,5/8,11/16,3/4,13/16,7/8,15/16,1
The above cover all sizes needed today.

In metric, I need 20 to cover the same size range - 4,4.5,5,5.5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,17,19,20,21, 22,25
Please!!- pick the odd or even mm & trash the others. No need of a wrench every mm or 1/2mm-ridiculous & expensive.
Do away with one of the 3 thread pitches also. Fine & coarse are all that is needed.

What us older Imperial folk are saying is that we can visually or mentally recognize Imp. units because we grew up with them.

Cheers/ Len

[StuM]

Originally Posted by deblen

There you metric folks do it again!!!
Canada converts to centigrade in 1970 & the metric folks change the term to Celsius a few yrs later.

The official international name changed from Centigrade to Celsius in 1948.
It just took some people a long time to come to grips with the new name.

[Jason Flare]

Originally Posted by StuM

The official international name changed from Centigrade to Celsius in 1948.
It just took some people a long time to come to grips with the new name.

I'm glad there's always some body of government out there telling everyone how things are going to be done and what they're going to be called from now on.

Also heartening is that to keep themselves relevant they change their minds from time to time.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Jason Flare

I'm glad there's always some body of government out there telling everyone how things are going to be done and what they're going to be called from now on.

Also heartening is that to keep themselves relevant they change their minds from time to time.

Considering the alternative, where you don't know if your gallons are the same as your trading partner gallons or he uses maunds instead of gallons, there is a lot to be said for international standards of measurement.