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It's almost as if the metric system was designed to be useful to ordinary people rather than to fit a nice-looking model of units. Most people use a ruler or t
by powera 11y ago
It's almost as if the metric system was designed to be useful to ordinary people rather than to fit a nice-looking model of units.
Most people use a ruler or their hands to measure things, not dial calipers. And most people don't want to have to say "230 millimeters" as opposed to "23 centimeters" (or more realistically, 20 centimeters).
- Asbostos 11y agoSaving syllables has to be balanced against the cost and difficulty of confusion. More units mean more confusion. So do inconsistent factors like 1/100.
- Bud 11y agoI think part of the point here is that you wouldn't have to say "230 millimeters" at all, because mm could be assumed. Therefore you'd simply be able to say "two thirty" in most contexts, and be clearly understood.
- ciconia 11y agoThe old 12-base system is actually very useful once you put your calculator aside. Dividing 1 foot by 4 is much easier than dividing 30cm. Also regarding your comment on mm vs cm, in my line of work (organ building [1]), we always talk in mm, just to prevent confusion, even for lengths of multiple meters). [1] http://www.blumenroeder.fr http://www.blumenroeder.fr
- avmich 11y ago> Dividing 1 foot by 4 is much easier than dividing 30cm. That's of course very subjective. One has to remember that 1 foot is 12 inches, where in metrics one only remember once all prefixes and applies them to all units uniformly.