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Do you know why that’s popular in the US? I’m so used to the decimal point notation that when hear “the Dow Jones index dropped by one hundred thirty three or o

Do you know why that’s popular in the US? I’m so used to the decimal point notation that when hear “the Dow Jones index dropped by one hundred thirty three or one-tenth of a percentage point” on NPR it just throws me off. “Point one percent” is just so much easier to visualize the number. It feels unnecessarily complicated to use the fractional system. Same with the “the time right now is three past five” vs “it’s oh-three-oh-five or three-oh-five pm”.

nine_k 4y ago
It's a tradition. The US is more traditional than most of Europe. Its political system did not change for nearly 250 years, and the last major war on its territory ended in 1865. Europe had many more wars during a comparable period, and much more political reorganization. It had many more chances to scrap an old system and enforce a new system. The US federal government won't enforce a metric system, or it would likely be overstepping its mandate. So, if everyone from your grand-grandfather to your dad use measures like 3/8 and not 0.375, feet and inches instead of meters and centimeters, etc, you naturally use them, too. All the books have them. All the public displays have them. There is just too much inertia that makes everyone keep using them. You of course can use metric units (most rulers in my home have both inches and mm, every bottle or carton has the volume in oz/gal and ml), 24-hour clock scale (call it "military time"), Celsius temperature scale, etc. If you do science, you most likely use metric units. The metric system coexists with the imperial system, but does not dominate over it.
- School-Cotton 4y ago
  I do think decimal measurements have become more popular over time, though, even in areas where we haven’t switched to metric. I’m more likely to say something weighs 1.5 pounds than one pound, eight ounces. (On the other hand, we absolutely still use feet and inches ubiquitously).
Dalewyn 4y ago
There are situations where fractions are easier and more importantly more accurate than decimals. For example, measuring a third of something in decimals would be 0.333... while in fractions that would be 1/3. Fractions are particularly popular in the construction industries for this reason, where base 12 math will toss out anyone who tries to be metric and base 10.

nine_k 4y ago

It's a tradition. The US is more traditional than most of Europe. Its political system did not change for nearly 250 years, and the last major war on its territory ended in 1865. Europe had many more wars during a comparable period, and much more political reorganization. It had many more chances to scrap an old system and enforce a new system. The US federal government won't enforce a metric system, or it would likely be overstepping its mandate. So, if everyone from your grand-grandfather to your dad use measures like 3/8 and not 0.375, feet and inches instead of meters and centimeters, etc, you naturally use them, too. All the books have them. All the public displays have them. There is just too much inertia that makes everyone keep using them. You of course can use metric units (most rulers in my home have both inches and mm, every bottle or carton has the volume in oz/gal and ml), 24-hour clock scale (call it "military time"), Celsius temperature scale, etc. If you do science, you most likely use metric units. The metric system coexists with the imperial system, but does not dominate over it.

School-Cotton 4y ago
I do think decimal measurements have become more popular over time, though, even in areas where we haven’t switched to metric. I’m more likely to say something weighs 1.5 pounds than one pound, eight ounces. (On the other hand, we absolutely still use feet and inches ubiquitously).

Dalewyn 4y ago

There are situations where fractions are easier and more importantly more accurate than decimals. For example, measuring a third of something in decimals would be 0.333... while in fractions that would be 1/3. Fractions are particularly popular in the construction industries for this reason, where base 12 math will toss out anyone who tries to be metric and base 10.