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As an occasional woodworker and carpenter, I can tell you having evenly divisable (inch) measurements makes mental division a whole lot easier. It's just a case

As an occasional woodworker and carpenter, I can tell you having evenly divisable (inch) measurements makes mental division a whole lot easier. It's just a case of using the right tool for the job.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
mulmen 6y ago
It’s unfortunate that fractional measurements and the base size of units get conflated. Maybe metric users do use fractions and I just don’t hear about it. Is that table one and a quarter meters high?
- spaetzleesser 6y ago
  People often say something is 1 and a half meters long. I don't understand how people can work with inch measurements. How do you divide 7"3/8 by 5? This seems a major pain.
  - mulmen 6y ago
    One and a half seems natural. What about something like a quarter meter? I guess that just becomes some number of centimeters? > How do you divide 7"3/8 by 5? Same way I divide 4.7625 cm by 5. With a calculator.
    - flemhans 6y ago
      > I guess that just becomes some number of centimeters? 25, yes. It's not too hard to do the math. > Same way I divide 4.7625 cm by 5. With a calculator. That's roughly 0.95 right by intuition, but (7"3/8) / 5 doesn't come easy to me.
  - chordalkeyboard 6y ago
    You multiply 7* 8 then add 3 and put that number over 8* 5, resulting in 59/40, roughly 1.5”.
- sojournerc 6y ago
  There's something just right about 1/16th of an inch. About the same as a millimeter, and easy to do math with... it is weird though 1/8th, centimeter is hard to conceive, for me anyway. When more precision is needed, so easy to go to the 32nd
  - ascorbic 6y ago
    All you're saying is that inches are what you're used to. Being in the UK I am familiar with both inches and mm, and mm are far easier to work with than 16ths of an inch.
- grecy 6y ago
  We use millimetres. That table is 1250mm high. If you're cutting it yourself, a precision of 1mm is finer than your saw blade or pencil line anyway, so it's plenty enough. When I hear anything past about 1/8th of an inch my brain shuts down, and I give up.
  - mulmen 6y ago
    My argument is a mm is too fine in that situation. 1/8ths and 1/16ths are ideal when working at those scales. In reality I use both systems all the time. It’s situational. > When I hear anything past about 1/8th of an inch my brain shuts down, and I give up. Realistically, same. 32nds don’t get used outside of some specialty wrenches. 16ths are a practical limit where other scales start to make more sense. Probably millimeters.
    - cambalache 6y ago
      So 3 mm is a weird measure but 1/8 of an inch is just perfect? You are like those guys who say that Fahrenheit is better because it feels "more natural and obvious"
      - mulmen 6y ago
        I don’t understand why it has to be one or the other? Working in fractions is nice sometimes. Inches are a useful size for some situations. I find it easier to say that’s three eighths than 9mm because my ruler doesn’t have different marks for the factors of each mm mark. I use both systems. I do prefer Fahrenheit for HVAC (and weather) because it’s higher resolution and has reasonable values at human scales. Thermostats that lack half-degrees-c are never quite right IMO.
        cambalache 6y ago
        > I do prefer Fahrenheit for HVAC (and weather) because it’s higher resolution and has reasonable values at human scales. So you are one of those, lol. There is nothing "less human" about 25 C than say 72 F. Nothing, it just happen to be the scale you are used to.Both are arbitrary. > Fahrenheit for HVAC (and weather) because it’s higher resolution 99.99% of thermostats and thermometer in C had at least 1 decimal place. At usual "human temperatures" the difference in resolution between the scales is less than 2X, so even assuming only integer values, I am willing to bet against you in a double blind test that you cannot differentiate 68F vs 69F in an statistical significant way. > I find it easier to say that’s three eighths than 9mm Just because you are used to. Fractions are more complicated than integers, every elementary school program knows it. So to summarize, the problem is not with the magnitude of the units which is arbitrary (a degree F and inches are not more human, logical or normal that a degree C or cm)the problem is with the convoluted way of the imperial system for multiples and submultiples of the base unit.

As an occasional woodworker and carpenter, I can tell you having evenly divisable (inch) measurements makes mental division a whole lot easier. It's just a case of using the right tool for the job.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

mulmen 6y ago

It’s unfortunate that fractional measurements and the base size of units get conflated. Maybe metric users do use fractions and I just don’t hear about it. Is that table one and a quarter meters high?

spaetzleesser 6y ago
People often say something is 1 and a half meters long. I don't understand how people can work with inch measurements. How do you divide 7"3/8 by 5? This seems a major pain.
- mulmen 6y ago
  One and a half seems natural. What about something like a quarter meter? I guess that just becomes some number of centimeters? > How do you divide 7"3/8 by 5? Same way I divide 4.7625 cm by 5. With a calculator.
  - flemhans 6y ago
    > I guess that just becomes some number of centimeters? 25, yes. It's not too hard to do the math. > Same way I divide 4.7625 cm by 5. With a calculator. That's roughly 0.95 right by intuition, but (7"3/8) / 5 doesn't come easy to me.
- chordalkeyboard 6y ago
  You multiply 7* 8 then add 3 and put that number over 8* 5, resulting in 59/40, roughly 1.5”.
sojournerc 6y ago
There's something just right about 1/16th of an inch. About the same as a millimeter, and easy to do math with... it is weird though 1/8th, centimeter is hard to conceive, for me anyway. When more precision is needed, so easy to go to the 32nd
- ascorbic 6y ago
  All you're saying is that inches are what you're used to. Being in the UK I am familiar with both inches and mm, and mm are far easier to work with than 16ths of an inch.
grecy 6y ago
We use millimetres. That table is 1250mm high. If you're cutting it yourself, a precision of 1mm is finer than your saw blade or pencil line anyway, so it's plenty enough. When I hear anything past about 1/8th of an inch my brain shuts down, and I give up.
- mulmen 6y ago
  My argument is a mm is too fine in that situation. 1/8ths and 1/16ths are ideal when working at those scales. In reality I use both systems all the time. It’s situational. > When I hear anything past about 1/8th of an inch my brain shuts down, and I give up. Realistically, same. 32nds don’t get used outside of some specialty wrenches. 16ths are a practical limit where other scales start to make more sense. Probably millimeters.
  - cambalache 6y ago
    So 3 mm is a weird measure but 1/8 of an inch is just perfect? You are like those guys who say that Fahrenheit is better because it feels "more natural and obvious"
    - mulmen 6y ago
      I don’t understand why it has to be one or the other? Working in fractions is nice sometimes. Inches are a useful size for some situations. I find it easier to say that’s three eighths than 9mm because my ruler doesn’t have different marks for the factors of each mm mark. I use both systems. I do prefer Fahrenheit for HVAC (and weather) because it’s higher resolution and has reasonable values at human scales. Thermostats that lack half-degrees-c are never quite right IMO.
      - cambalache 6y ago
        > I do prefer Fahrenheit for HVAC (and weather) because it’s higher resolution and has reasonable values at human scales. So you are one of those, lol. There is nothing "less human" about 25 C than say 72 F. Nothing, it just happen to be the scale you are used to.Both are arbitrary. > Fahrenheit for HVAC (and weather) because it’s higher resolution 99.99% of thermostats and thermometer in C had at least 1 decimal place. At usual "human temperatures" the difference in resolution between the scales is less than 2X, so even assuming only integer values, I am willing to bet against you in a double blind test that you cannot differentiate 68F vs 69F in an statistical significant way. > I find it easier to say that’s three eighths than 9mm Just because you are used to. Fractions are more complicated than integers, every elementary school program knows it. So to summarize, the problem is not with the magnitude of the units which is arbitrary (a degree F and inches are not more human, logical or normal that a degree C or cm)the problem is with the convoluted way of the imperial system for multiples and submultiples of the base unit.