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My rant related to this: How It's Made[1] often has lines like, "The worker places the assembly in a oven that heats the metal to 1,292 degrees Fahrenheit". Wh

My rant related to this: How It's Made[1] often has lines like, "The worker places the assembly in a oven that heats the metal to 1,292 degrees Fahrenheit". Which is an oddly-specfic temperature before you realize they just converted it from 700°C. Since it's highly doubtful the oven maintains precisely 700°C—and since it's not important to the viewer what the exact temperature is anyway—it annoys me that they don't just say "1,300°F" instead. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_It%27s_Made https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_It%27s_Made

colejohnson66 11y ago
Fun fact: the reason the human body temperature is said to be 98.6 °F is because of rounding between units. It originally was said to be 100 °F, which when converted to Celsius is 37.77 °C. Round that down to 37 °C and convert back and you get the oddly specific 98.6 °F (despite the fact the human body temperature can fluctuate quite a few degrees [Fahrenheit] throughout the day). I read this somewhere (credible), but I can't remember where, so sorry, but no source. It may be wrong, but the 98.6 °F is oddly specific and happens to line up perfectly with a round number when converted to °C.
- function_seven 10y ago
  The fact that it converts perfectly to a round °C number is all the evidence I need. Thanks.
- legohead 10y ago
  A few comments.. When I measure my temperature I consistently get 98.6. However, my wife usually measures higher, often slightly above 99. Back to my wife. She is a native Russian, and when I asked her what they check for in Russia, she said 36.6 celcius, so that would help support your theory.
- 3JPLW 10y ago
  I don't think that's true. The Fahrenheit scale was originally defined to have 0° at the coldest measurable value at the lab bench (salt-water slurry), 32° at the freezing point of water, and 96° for human body temperature. Why use those numbers? It's really easy to make even gradations with with powers of two: just half the length each time. Pretty clever, but of course this has a problem in that there's no guarantee that the three points are co-linear. So it was eventually redefined to simply be defined based upon the freezing/boiling points of water — from 32-212, based upon approximate extrapolations of the scale at the time. They may have even aimed for an even 180 degree separation between the two points. And this leads to the exact 9/5ths conversion ratio (212-32 / 100) from Celsius. I think the 37°C -> 98.6°F is just a coincidence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit#History
- King-Aaron 10y ago
  When it comes to things like this, I just don't understand how you guys using the imperial system can do your mental arithmetic easily.
  - greggman 10y ago
    We can't! (or I can't)
Symbiote 10y ago
When broadcast in Britain, the voiceover uses metric units. Presumably the Canadian version does too. If I lived there, it would annoy me more that they don't say 700°C in the USA...
- function_seven 10y ago
  I think the same thing with length units. They're always saying, "The operator cuts the widget into four tenths of an inch increments" and I get unreasonably mad at the TV, shouting, "Ya mean a centimeter?!" If they were really using the imperial system, it would be 3/8", not 0.4. But for temperature, I just can't relate to °C. I've been too indoctrinated in °F so long. But with higher values, like 700, it's not hard to double it in my head and get a reasonable approximation. So yeah, just give it to me in whatever unit the factory is actually using. Especially if there's a visible control panel in the shot.
  - Symbiote 10y ago
    Perhaps 0.4 inches is there intentionally, to annoy Americans. It's a Canadian programme... (although I recently gained a colleague from Quebec, who is far less familiar with metric than I expected, and uses US units for lots of things. Bottles of liqueur, oven temperatures, furniture, body weight and height etc). Britain switched weather forecast units in the 1960s, so my grandma uses °C, and she's 85. But maybe she had more incentive, since she liked going on holiday elsewhere in Europe.

colejohnson66 11y ago

Fun fact: the reason the human body temperature is said to be 98.6 °F is because of rounding between units. It originally was said to be 100 °F, which when converted to Celsius is 37.77 °C. Round that down to 37 °C and convert back and you get the oddly specific 98.6 °F (despite the fact the human body temperature can fluctuate quite a few degrees [Fahrenheit] throughout the day). I read this somewhere (credible), but I can't remember where, so sorry, but no source. It may be wrong, but the 98.6 °F is oddly specific and happens to line up perfectly with a round number when converted to °C.

function_seven 10y ago
The fact that it converts perfectly to a round °C number is all the evidence I need. Thanks.
legohead 10y ago
A few comments.. When I measure my temperature I consistently get 98.6. However, my wife usually measures higher, often slightly above 99. Back to my wife. She is a native Russian, and when I asked her what they check for in Russia, she said 36.6 celcius, so that would help support your theory.
3JPLW 10y ago
I don't think that's true. The Fahrenheit scale was originally defined to have 0° at the coldest measurable value at the lab bench (salt-water slurry), 32° at the freezing point of water, and 96° for human body temperature. Why use those numbers? It's really easy to make even gradations with with powers of two: just half the length each time. Pretty clever, but of course this has a problem in that there's no guarantee that the three points are co-linear. So it was eventually redefined to simply be defined based upon the freezing/boiling points of water — from 32-212, based upon approximate extrapolations of the scale at the time. They may have even aimed for an even 180 degree separation between the two points. And this leads to the exact 9/5ths conversion ratio (212-32 / 100) from Celsius. I think the 37°C -> 98.6°F is just a coincidence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit#History
King-Aaron 10y ago
When it comes to things like this, I just don't understand how you guys using the imperial system can do your mental arithmetic easily.
- greggman 10y ago
  We can't! (or I can't)

Symbiote 10y ago

When broadcast in Britain, the voiceover uses metric units. Presumably the Canadian version does too. If I lived there, it would annoy me more that they don't say 700°C in the USA...

function_seven 10y ago
I think the same thing with length units. They're always saying, "The operator cuts the widget into four tenths of an inch increments" and I get unreasonably mad at the TV, shouting, "Ya mean a centimeter?!" If they were really using the imperial system, it would be 3/8", not 0.4. But for temperature, I just can't relate to °C. I've been too indoctrinated in °F so long. But with higher values, like 700, it's not hard to double it in my head and get a reasonable approximation. So yeah, just give it to me in whatever unit the factory is actually using. Especially if there's a visible control panel in the shot.
- Symbiote 10y ago
  Perhaps 0.4 inches is there intentionally, to annoy Americans. It's a Canadian programme... (although I recently gained a colleague from Quebec, who is far less familiar with metric than I expected, and uses US units for lots of things. Bottles of liqueur, oven temperatures, furniture, body weight and height etc). Britain switched weather forecast units in the 1960s, so my grandma uses °C, and she's 85. But maybe she had more incentive, since she liked going on holiday elsewhere in Europe.