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I'm also French and I live in the US. What a load of crap. You're telling me it's easier for you to double "6 and 3/4 inch" than "17.14 cm"? I balk every time I

I'm also French and I live in the US. What a load of crap. You're telling me it's easier for you to double "6 and 3/4 inch" than "17.14 cm"? I balk every time I have to do the mental gymnastics. "Okay, 6+3/4 inches doubled, that's 12+6/4 inches. But 6/4 is 1+2/4 which is 1+1/2, so 13+1/2 inches, or 1ft 1+1/2in". "Okay, 17.14cm doubled, that's 34.28cm". Really, for you the first one is easier?

franky47 3y ago
Pretty much, the same way fractions carry over inches as decimals carry over the next power of ten, and as a developer I find powers of two more intuitive. Example: I mostly work with 3/4" thick material, which is a breeze to divide into 3 for 1/4" mortice and tenons. The equivalent 19mm in that respect is a bit trickier, though fortunately EU 3/4 lumber tends to be only 18mm thick.
VoodooJuJu 3y ago
If you've ever done woodworking, you'd appreciate the imperial system, especially when working with kerf size and whatnot. The imperial system was literally made for that kind of application. Rather, not made, but it emerged. The imperial system emerged piecemeal as a series of domain-specific measurements, where each unit conveyed deeper meaning beyond rote volume, distance, etc. For example, an acre means much more than 43,560 feet squared. It means "roughly the amount of land that a pair of oxen can plow in a day". A nice domain-specific measurement that communicates something useful to the experts of that domain, in this case, plowmen, farmers, and lords of the manor. With inches, an inch is about the length of your thumb. Imagine doing woodworking and measuring in thumbs - it's right there in front of you, easy to conceptualize and work with, an intuitive "bite-size" unit of measurement. Fractional centimeters aren't as intuitive to work with and conceptualize. 6+3/4 inches is a lot more workable than 17.14cm.
- justeleblanc 3y ago
  I have dabbled in woodworking. I still stick to metric. You can spend all day rationalizing why the system you've been immersed in since childhood is more intuitive. In the end, it's more intuitive to you because it's what you're used to. Your example is a prime one. I'm not used to measure things with my thumbs, so if you told me that something is ten thumbs wide, I'd have to think some time before I could make a mental picture of it, and an inaccurate one to boot. I'm used to measure things with centimeters, so I immediately know what 10 cm looks like. > Fractional centimeters aren't as intuitive to work with and conceptualize. To you they're not. To people used to it, they are.

franky47 3y ago

Pretty much, the same way fractions carry over inches as decimals carry over the next power of ten, and as a developer I find powers of two more intuitive. Example: I mostly work with 3/4" thick material, which is a breeze to divide into 3 for 1/4" mortice and tenons. The equivalent 19mm in that respect is a bit trickier, though fortunately EU 3/4 lumber tends to be only 18mm thick.

VoodooJuJu 3y ago

If you've ever done woodworking, you'd appreciate the imperial system, especially when working with kerf size and whatnot. The imperial system was literally made for that kind of application. Rather, not made, but it emerged. The imperial system emerged piecemeal as a series of domain-specific measurements, where each unit conveyed deeper meaning beyond rote volume, distance, etc. For example, an acre means much more than 43,560 feet squared. It means "roughly the amount of land that a pair of oxen can plow in a day". A nice domain-specific measurement that communicates something useful to the experts of that domain, in this case, plowmen, farmers, and lords of the manor. With inches, an inch is about the length of your thumb. Imagine doing woodworking and measuring in thumbs - it's right there in front of you, easy to conceptualize and work with, an intuitive "bite-size" unit of measurement. Fractional centimeters aren't as intuitive to work with and conceptualize. 6+3/4 inches is a lot more workable than 17.14cm.

justeleblanc 3y ago
I have dabbled in woodworking. I still stick to metric. You can spend all day rationalizing why the system you've been immersed in since childhood is more intuitive. In the end, it's more intuitive to you because it's what you're used to. Your example is a prime one. I'm not used to measure things with my thumbs, so if you told me that something is ten thumbs wide, I'd have to think some time before I could make a mental picture of it, and an inaccurate one to boot. I'm used to measure things with centimeters, so I immediately know what 10 cm looks like. > Fractional centimeters aren't as intuitive to work with and conceptualize. To you they're not. To people used to it, they are.