I mean I hate the US customary system (i'm from a metric country and metric early-education), but jeez, AWG is fine IMO. What's the purpose of having mm^2? You

I mean I hate the US customary system (i'm from a metric country and metric early-education), but jeez, AWG is fine IMO. What's the purpose of having mm^2? You can't measure it any easier (how the heck are you gonna measure area without calipers? you're gonna need a gauge with holes in it to identify wires), nor is it easier to express the number easily. For manufacturing purposes, expressing the radius or diameter might be good, but for using them, the AWG number is really nice and streamlined.