6 ms·

200F = 93.3C, 190F = 87.8C. Really, we're talking about boiling, why would one even consider using Fahrenheit?

• Broken_Hippo 4y ago
  In some places, most of your instruments will likely be in Fahrenheit and Fahrenheit is what you use daily for most tasks. It only makes sense that you use Fahrenheit as your reference point. A home in other places is more likely to have Celcius, and you'll likely use it. It isn't like it is difficult to convert.
  • Shaanie 4y ago
    On the contrary Fahrenheit and Celsius is one of the harder units to convert. Can't just "halve and remove 10%" in your head like you can for pounds. Though I agree with you that you can't expect Americans to use SI units.
    • Broken_Hippo 4y ago
      Most folks reading this will have the internet. It makes conversion easy. If you don't, charts help get most common things converted. Easy.
    • rsfern 4y ago
      The scale factor is 9/5, which is close enough to 2 that the precision is fine for casual conversion (weather report, discussion of boiling tea on the web, …)
      • coffeeling 4y ago
        Definitely not. Say, 86F to C. 86F is 30C, but dividing the F by 2 would give you "43C", which converts to 109F. That is not a trivial difference.
        • inimino 4y ago
          You forgot to subtract 32 first. Then you get 27. Or in this case, 54 happens to be evenly divisible by 9, so doing the exact conversion is relatively convenient (divide by nine, multiply by five).
  • gpvos 4y ago
    No, it is very hard to convert. The US has about 4% of the world population. Adapt. It's not worth the communication problems.
    • pasquinelli 4y ago
      i suppose they will when they have to.
      • herbst 4y ago
        They more or less did. It's just the general public that for some reason still uses these units.
        • Broken_Hippo 4y ago
          No point in using kph for speed if all of the signs are in mph. No point in learning C for air temperature if the forecasts are in F. No point in using metric volume measurements if it doesn't match the measurements on your cooking tools. No point in using metric height and weight at the doctor if the form requests inches and pounds. And so on. You just don't have a choice unless the government makes the switch mandatory. So you use it as it comes up: Metric for medicine, for example, but not to figure out your clothing for the day.
          • beezlewax 4y ago
            In Ireland we changed all the road signs to kph 20 years ago. It too some minor adjustments but that was that.
    • Broken_Hippo 4y ago
      No, it is very hard to convert. Do you think folks are doing it by hand? nope, they use the internet, the same thing we are communicating on. I agree that the US should convert, but that's another discussion. No need to crap on folks for using something familiar when we all know that's why they do it.
• wodenokoto 4y ago
  As much as I prefer Celsius and have no idea what temperatures are in Fahrenheit, it seems quite obvious why people will use it - because it’s what one knows and what is used where one live.
• todd8 4y ago
  Unfortunately, a lifetime in the U.S. has left me with poor intuition for Celsius. The conversion isn't difficult to do in ones head and for laboratory work, naturally, it's just as easy to read one thermometer scale as another. For everyday life, weather reports, fever thermometer readings, thermostats and such, it is just a nuisance to convert from Fahrenheit and back. If someone tells me it's 15 degrees C outside I have to do mental arithmetic to know if I should take a sweater. Furthermore, from a purely logical perspective perhaps we should even consider using Kelvin. It's a completely different story for distance, weight and volume. Metric measurement in these cases are more intuitive for me, and they are clearly superior too. Millimeters are so much easier to use than fractions of an inch (7/32 inch -- that's a ridiculous system). In the U.S., an ounce of flour weighs less than an ounce of gold. Who even knows how much a grain of gunpowder is in units anyone else uses (one grain is approximately 1/16 gram). There are three teaspoons in one tablespoon, but only two cups in a pint, 2 pints in a quart and 4 quarts in a gallon. I'd be happy to switch from imperial to SI units for length, mass, and volume. I'll gladly switch slugs to kilograms and pounds to Newtons, but I will miss Fahrenheit.
  • Beldin 4y ago
    > In the U.S., an ounce of flour weighs less than an ounce of gold. Wait, what? I mean: WHAT?! There's a children's riddle here: "what weighs more: a pound of feathers or a pound of lead." I hesitate to ask what the US answer to this would be.
    • coffeeling 4y ago
      Two different units, both called an ounce.
    • maxnoe 4y ago
      It's the avoirdupois ounce (exactly 28.349523125 g) for everything but precious metals, where the Troy ounce is used (exactly 31.1034768 g).
  • pwpw 4y ago
    Once you know 100 is boiling, a simple rhyme helps to remember Celsius for common weather temperatures: 30 is hot. 20 is pleasing. 10 is cold. And 0 is freezing.
• NoPicklez 4y ago
  Even as an Aussie I have to disagree with you here. The commenter at least put Fahrenheit in the degree. People are allowed to communicate in a way that they're familiar with. If they have used F their entire life and so has everyone around them, then its fine. The US demographic represents roughly 41% of Hacker News, I think its fine if they use their own measurement system.