Imperial or Metric system?

[Paxan_1]

GB is is a little strange for me because of that. You never really know which system they are using, do you have ever read a scientific paper of them, you become crazy....

 

In "normal" live i had my issues with the systems over there in traffic. If you are driving around in your own (lhd) car and you see a 40 sign..., what are you doing? Right, you are breaking down to 40km/h. Sometimes i'm a little thoughtless in traffic :rolleyes:

[LordTenaim]

I work in both mainly through my interest in maritime history but also because of training as a carpenter, with carpentry I had to use metric but with maritime history esp. about the late victorian period onwards the calibre of guns were done in inches and the general measurements were done in feet and inches. If you look at guide books for something like HMS Victory they will give you the dimensions in imperial poss. with a conversion to metric. In this way it can get confusing esp.if you then get a book by a European where the information is done in metric, I find it all seems wrong.

[Thor.]

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.

 

Coming from a person who uses it every day i have to agree with you.

 

Metric is better.

[JimboUK]

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.

 

Not just Americans, if someone tells me town X is 20km away I have to convert it into miles because I can relate to miles.

[slygothmog]

From what you say jim, I guess allot depends on how old you are, and under which system you are brought up with...if I had my way all would be metric ( for internationl simplicicy )..but you cannot beat the pound and ounce for making a good old sunday roast :biggrin:

[JimboUK]

Spent years working in the UK building trade, so that piece of timber is 2 metres & 6 inches long :biggrin:

 

Are you the bloke that built our extension? :biggrin:

 

 

Blimey, is that thing still standing, I'll have to charge you extra :biggrin:

 

That is but the house fell down. :biggrin:

 

From what you say jim, I guess allot depends on how old you are, and under which system you are brought up with...if I had my way all would be metric ( for internationl simplicicy )..but you cannot beat the pound and ounce for making a good old sunday roast :biggrin:

 

We were taught metric at school, they've been teaching it for many years (left school in '85) but you still need Imperial especially on the roads where everything is still in miles and yards. It would make sense for the UK just to pick one and stick with it, though I can understand why the horrendous cost of redoing road signs and likes puts people off. It was only the other month I got caught out, we ordered some custom made blinds online and I selected 120 inches accross but picked the wrong box for the drop and ended up with 60cm instead of 60 inches, £300 wasted. http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/1313/smileycry.gif

[RedVexHK]

Stupid thing is Metric is simple and precise. Imperial is imprecise and harder to calculate as the units are not uniform as in Metric .It;s also OLD!!!!! Romans used Metric so why do some countries still refuse to change from Imperial?? Is it something against Romans?? or is it something else??? maybe American refusal to do what everyone else does?? and Britain?? Well it's called Imperial for a reason.

[slygothmog]

we ordered some custom made blinds online and I selected 120 inches accross but picked the wrong box for the drop and ended up with 60cm instead of 60 inches, £300 wasted.

 

Ouch!

 

and Britain?? Well it's called Imperial for a reason.

 

Hey! that's not fair :( The deeds of our ancestors are not the deeds of those living in the present ( and the mounties pride themselves on their association with the red coats ).

But you are correct RedVex, the Imperial measure is well outdated, and it's not hard to switch from mph to kph whilst driving. But the dozen MUST stay!...how the hell can you count an egg by the gram?!?

[brokenergy]

I think you have your facts wrong RedVexHK. Imperial came before Metric, even though Imperial was adopted later as a standardized system. The Metric system was adopted in 1791 by the French as part of their change from a absolute monarchy to a republic while the imperial system has it's roots from various parts around the world. The oldest known measurement units came from Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley, and perhaps also Elam (in Iran). Many of the lengths from the Imperial system came from various kings such as the "foot" came from the length of Louis XIV foot and the "inch" was standardised in 1324 where King Edward II of England defining it as "three grains of barley, dry and round, placed end to end, lengthwise". In 1824 the Brits adopted the Imperial system across the British Empire but it was slowly eroded by the Metric system and many of it's former colonies (with the exception of Burma) switched to the Metric system. The US customary system takes many of the units from the Imperial system but it is tweaked to suit their needs.

[Surenas]

Outside of the Anglo-American world nobody on earth is interested in the outdated imperial system. So you better stay in with such antiquated traditions not to get laughed at by chance.