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Not to reedit Imperial vs Metric, but I asked an American friend why he preferred the former, and he said it was "more intuitive/natural". I always found that

by lbrito 5y ago

Not to reedit Imperial vs Metric, but I asked an American friend why he preferred the former, and he said it was "more intuitive/natural". I always found that answer really strange (how can "next exit 3 3/4 miles" be more intuitive than "next exit 3.75 miles"?), and this A&W anecdote kind of proves my point. If the burgers were measured in grams there could be no confusion about 400g being greater than 300g.

mcdonje 5y ago
People who work in the trades with imperial measures get used to fractions and reasoning about distances in fractions. I have this 2-5/8 tile I need to split in half. Ok, 1-5/16. Contrast that with 2.625 / 2 = 1.3125. I'm sure tradespeople who use metric have their own ways of making simple calculations in their heads, but that's an example of why a lot of people who work with fractions prefer them.
- lbrito 5y ago
  >I have this 2-5/8 tile I need to split in half. Ok, 1-5/16. Contrast that with 2.625 / 2 = 1.3125. The latter is much easier to think about IMO.
  - nkrisc 5y ago
    I find the latter more difficult because you’re carrying numbers to different places and have to reason about the whole number. In the former you can cheat by just halving (doubling, yeah it’s a little counterintuitive) the denominator (ignoring the integer in both examples, since that’s easy in both). But I will grant you, converting between denominators makes my head hurt in the imperial system. Overall I do still think metric is easier as a whole.
  - mcdonje 5y ago
    Just double the denominator. Do you have .625/2=.3125 memorized?
    - tempest_ 5y ago
      No but half of 625 is very easy math (half of 600 is 300, half of 25 is 12.5) and it makes doing everything else so much easier.
      - seszett 5y ago
        That and in practice, tiles aren't found in dimensions of 26.25 cm, but 20, 25 or 30 cm. Calculations with those numbers are trivial to make, and when they aren't trivial those numbers are also easier to type on a calculator than fractions.
      - andrew_ 5y ago
        It's "easy math" if you're trained to think and calculate in that way. Never assume something is universally easy because it comes easy to yourself.
        abdulmuhaimin 5y ago
        not a convincing argument. Same can be said for the other side
- nicoburns 5y ago
  That's why metric distances of smallish objects are measured in millimetres. The unit is small enough that you'd pretty much never need more than one decimal place.
  - mywittyname 5y ago
    You'd think, but that isn't the case. 3/8ths - an extremely common SAE measurement - is 9.5mm. 1/2in is 12.7mm; 1/4 is 6.4mm. These rounding errors add up. And you can't really get away with sticking to metric because (in the USA) you're bound run into a situation where you have to buy pre-fabbed goods measured in SAE. So now you need to not only deal with decimal to fraction conversions, but remember the "special cases" like 3/8ths.
    - nicoburns 5y ago
      When other countries switched to metric they also switched their standard measurements to metric-rounded equivalents. In fact, here in the UK it's a legal requirement that everything (with a few exceptions) must be sold using metric measurements. It's certainly doable.
      - gnopgnip 5y ago
        Are 1/4" ratchets labeled 6.3mm in the UK?
        tristor 5y ago
        I don't know how the UK tool companies do things, but I buy and use a lot of German tools and it depends on the brand. Most use metric measurements everywhere, some of them that are more widely distributed like Wera will use SAE measurements in their US/NA literature and metric everywhere else and use geolocation to provide you the appropriate product page or data sheet. It is very common though to see 9.5mm or 12.7mm drive ratchets (I don't really look at tiny stuff, so can't recall ever seeing 6.3mm but I'm sure I have). Anyone who works with hand tools should already be familiar with both metric and imperial and converting between them at this point, especially in the UK where /both/ measurement systems are used.
- bluGill 5y ago
  THIS IS ALL WRONG! When working with tile you level of precision is 1/4 an inch. So the 2-5/8 tile is either 2-1/2 or 2-3/4. Either way divide by 2 and it is 1-1/4 or maybe 1-1/2 - both will fit so who cares. Significant digest isn't only something they teach in physics, it exists in the real world.
  - mcdonje 5y ago
    It was a contrived example with the tile. I've had to do that calculation in the past with other materials.
- otikik 5y ago
  I've seen this in action in some US Youtube channels. To me it feels like those videos of people who lost their arms and learned to play the drums with their feet. Impressive, but also born out of limitations. > tradespeople who use metric 2.625 / 2 = Divide each digit by 2 = 1 . 3 1 (2.5) = 1.3125 Most of the time it isn't needed because there isn't a lot of those fractions going around to begin with. The problem isn't the units, themselves (inches, etc). It's that their relation isn't 10.
  - philwelch 5y ago
    > The problem isn't the units, themselves (inches, etc). It's that their relation isn't 10. That's a feature. 10 isn't divisible by 3.
- mturmon 5y ago
  Now, repeat the exercise with a 3-5/8 tile. Not as easy.
panzagl 5y ago
He probably meant the units themselves were more natural, not fractions vs decimal- 1 foot seems like a much more natural unit than 30 cm or .3 meters, 1 cup rather than 250 ml, etc.

by lbrito 5y ago

mcdonje 5y ago

People who work in the trades with imperial measures get used to fractions and reasoning about distances in fractions. I have this 2-5/8 tile I need to split in half. Ok, 1-5/16. Contrast that with 2.625 / 2 = 1.3125. I'm sure tradespeople who use metric have their own ways of making simple calculations in their heads, but that's an example of why a lot of people who work with fractions prefer them.

lbrito 5y ago
>I have this 2-5/8 tile I need to split in half. Ok, 1-5/16. Contrast that with 2.625 / 2 = 1.3125. The latter is much easier to think about IMO.
- nkrisc 5y ago
  I find the latter more difficult because you’re carrying numbers to different places and have to reason about the whole number. In the former you can cheat by just halving (doubling, yeah it’s a little counterintuitive) the denominator (ignoring the integer in both examples, since that’s easy in both). But I will grant you, converting between denominators makes my head hurt in the imperial system. Overall I do still think metric is easier as a whole.
- mcdonje 5y ago
  Just double the denominator. Do you have .625/2=.3125 memorized?
  - tempest_ 5y ago
    No but half of 625 is very easy math (half of 600 is 300, half of 25 is 12.5) and it makes doing everything else so much easier.
    - seszett 5y ago
      That and in practice, tiles aren't found in dimensions of 26.25 cm, but 20, 25 or 30 cm. Calculations with those numbers are trivial to make, and when they aren't trivial those numbers are also easier to type on a calculator than fractions.
    - andrew_ 5y ago
      It's "easy math" if you're trained to think and calculate in that way. Never assume something is universally easy because it comes easy to yourself.
      - abdulmuhaimin 5y ago
        not a convincing argument. Same can be said for the other side
nicoburns 5y ago
That's why metric distances of smallish objects are measured in millimetres. The unit is small enough that you'd pretty much never need more than one decimal place.
- mywittyname 5y ago
  You'd think, but that isn't the case. 3/8ths - an extremely common SAE measurement - is 9.5mm. 1/2in is 12.7mm; 1/4 is 6.4mm. These rounding errors add up. And you can't really get away with sticking to metric because (in the USA) you're bound run into a situation where you have to buy pre-fabbed goods measured in SAE. So now you need to not only deal with decimal to fraction conversions, but remember the "special cases" like 3/8ths.
  - nicoburns 5y ago
    When other countries switched to metric they also switched their standard measurements to metric-rounded equivalents. In fact, here in the UK it's a legal requirement that everything (with a few exceptions) must be sold using metric measurements. It's certainly doable.
    - gnopgnip 5y ago
      Are 1/4" ratchets labeled 6.3mm in the UK?
      - tristor 5y ago
        I don't know how the UK tool companies do things, but I buy and use a lot of German tools and it depends on the brand. Most use metric measurements everywhere, some of them that are more widely distributed like Wera will use SAE measurements in their US/NA literature and metric everywhere else and use geolocation to provide you the appropriate product page or data sheet. It is very common though to see 9.5mm or 12.7mm drive ratchets (I don't really look at tiny stuff, so can't recall ever seeing 6.3mm but I'm sure I have). Anyone who works with hand tools should already be familiar with both metric and imperial and converting between them at this point, especially in the UK where /both/ measurement systems are used.
bluGill 5y ago
THIS IS ALL WRONG! When working with tile you level of precision is 1/4 an inch. So the 2-5/8 tile is either 2-1/2 or 2-3/4. Either way divide by 2 and it is 1-1/4 or maybe 1-1/2 - both will fit so who cares. Significant digest isn't only something they teach in physics, it exists in the real world.
- mcdonje 5y ago
  It was a contrived example with the tile. I've had to do that calculation in the past with other materials.
otikik 5y ago
I've seen this in action in some US Youtube channels. To me it feels like those videos of people who lost their arms and learned to play the drums with their feet. Impressive, but also born out of limitations. > tradespeople who use metric 2.625 / 2 = Divide each digit by 2 = 1 . 3 1 (2.5) = 1.3125 Most of the time it isn't needed because there isn't a lot of those fractions going around to begin with. The problem isn't the units, themselves (inches, etc). It's that their relation isn't 10.
- philwelch 5y ago
  > The problem isn't the units, themselves (inches, etc). It's that their relation isn't 10. That's a feature. 10 isn't divisible by 3.
mturmon 5y ago
Now, repeat the exercise with a 3-5/8 tile. Not as easy.

panzagl 5y ago

He probably meant the units themselves were more natural, not fractions vs decimal- 1 foot seems like a much more natural unit than 30 cm or .3 meters, 1 cup rather than 250 ml, etc.