Imperial or Metric system?

[Retribution]

Which is better? I'm from the U.S., so I mainly use the Imperial system. I would much rather use the Metric system though, it's a lot easier to remember.

[evilneko]

Yes. We'd be much better off if we used the metric system, like the majority of the world. It would be a costly and painful conversion, but it would be well worth it in the end.

[Paxan_1]

Hi,

i don't think you can break down it to good or bad. Most of the people are using the metric system, not only in the daily using behaviour. Most of the problems you have with problems witch are caused by the differences in the scientific way. For me this is the most important reason to have one system. Maybe it could be imperial, but most of the countries world wide are using metric, so that would be the consensus for all.

 

For me it is fine to have a speed limit sign of 60mp/h in GB, i know thats something around 100km/h. But with the rest (feet, aso...), stay away from me :unsure:

 

Paxan

[bben46]

In the US most courses on the metric system are actually on converting back and forth from Imperial to metric. The elememtary teachers do not really understand it and they are supposed to teach it. As a person who has had to use both systems at various times in my life, the metric is much much simpler. The first thing you need to do is forget about converting. You should only convert in either direction if the final result is needed in the other system. If you ask an American how big a centimeter is, he will convert and tell you in inches, (if he knows how) but if you ask him how big an inch is he will hold up his fingers and show you "It's about this big" That is what makes the metric system hard for Americans.

 

One of the funniest questions I have had on metric measurements was "How much is a quarter stick of butter in metric?" When my school teacher sister in law was trying to convert a recipe from Imperial to metric for an internet friend in Spain.

[Paxan_1]

In the US you learn that in school? In Germany we don't hear much about this system, only a little of it because of the history of the metric system. Same for my courses at the university, and measurement was the basic of my studies...

[Asciri]

I prefer the imperial system. im so used to it now

[Surenas]

Hell yeah - the metric systen isn't that successful!

 

The remaining three countries that use a no metric system

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/Metric_system.png/350px-Metric_system.png

[Chaosblade02]

I used to work in a machine shop that my uncle owns, and this is pretty much ground zero of where something like a change in measuring systems will impact most. Although its simple arithmetic to convert from standard to metric, standard X 25.4 = metric, divide to convert metric to standard. I think metric is simpler because it works in increments of 10s, while standard works in fractions of an inch, and thousandths. Also the shop I worked at worked with both metric and standard blueprints, so everyone needed to be familiar with both.

 

Most people don't call it Imperial, its referred to as standard.

[Surenas]

I used to work in a machine shop that my uncle owns, and this is pretty much ground zero of where something like a change in measuring systems will impact most. Although its simple arithmetic to convert from standard to metric, standard X 25.4 = metric, divide to convert metric to standard. I think metric is simpler because it works in increments of 10s, while standard works in fractions of an inch, and thousandths. Also the shop I worked at worked with both metric and standard blueprints, so everyone needed to be familiar with both.

 

Most people don't call it Imperial, its referred to as standard.

 

The rest of the world refers to it as obsolete. The Brits have an exceptional permission to run the old stuff parallel to the metric system. Dunno where the problem is, cos according to Josephus (1st c. CE, contemporary of Jesus Christ) one simply has to do 400 cubits of 6 palms or 600 feet of 4 palms to make a stadion... and 150 stadia ôr 360.000 palms was the average day's march of a Roman legion... ^^

[brokenergy]

The Metric system is certainly more easier than Imperial. Imperial is so clustered up and is very out dated while the Metric system is as accurate as you can get. Speaking of Metric... late this year or next the people who are responsible for the Metric system are changing the meaning of mass because the object they used is deteriorating.