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No, it is very hard to convert. The US has about 4% of the world population. Adapt. It's not worth the communication problems.

by gpvos 4y ago

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.
- gpvos 4y ago
  I used a generic unit conversion app that has a specific function for F-to-C conversion. That takes a minute or so to start, enter the numbers, etc. I could have read tens of paragraphs of text in that time. I agree I'm being a bit harsh here, coming out of the blue on a random comment. But in general I'm very irritated that using non-metric units in an international forum is still a thing. The onus should be on the Americans in their communication, not on others. The UK and Canada have converted, or are in transition. It takes a generation or maybe two, but I'm certain it's worth the trouble.
- kbouck 4y ago
  not easy to convert accurately in your head, but google does unit conversion right in the search bar: "200 f to c" and macOS spotlight you can go even shorter: "200 f"
rsfern 4y ago
USian here, two perspectives. I wish we used the SI system, it’s clearly superior and I agree about the communication problems. It’s also really not that hard to convert temperature roughly, just a factor of two and a constant.
rplst8 4y ago
The US customary units have a lot advantages. For example: In Fahrenheit, 0 is really cold while 100 is really hot. In Celsius, 0 is kind of cold while 100 is damaging to life. With feet and inches, you can easily divide a foot by 2, 3, 4, and 6 with no repeating decimal digits. It's the same reason the ancient sumerians used base 60 for their number system. With liquid measure, a cup is roughly what would be considered a serving with a meal while a litre is one hundred millionth the distance from the equator to the north pole, cubed
- AlecSchueler 4y ago
  0 is freezing, 100 is boiling. 12 is a handy number but decimal calculation isn't difficult either, especially when all your units use the same. What is a cup? How do you do calculations with a third of a cup etc? I know a cup is roughly 200 mil. From exposure in life I know 200ml is about a cup of tea and 300ml is about a mug of coffee /can of come, 500 is a big can of beer. How many cups are in a can of beer?
  - acapybara 4y ago
    A can of beer is 12oz or 16oz.
    - AlecSchueler 4y ago
      So you change which unit you're using depending on what you're measuring? Much handier.
  - randomcarbloke 4y ago
    >/can of come You can buy it in cans now?
- kimmk 4y ago
  As a non-American I don't understand the Fahrenheit vs Celsius arguments. What's special about 0F being really cold and 100F feeling really hot? I find that -20C being really cold and 30C really hot quite intuitive and easy to understand. Also in terms of weather it is easy to understand that below zero temps snow and ice will form. Add the convenience that Celsius is basically just an offset of Kelvin and I really don't see the appeal of Fahrenheit at all.
itronitron 4y ago
F to C -> subtract 32 and divide by 1.8 C to F -> multiply by 1.8 and add 32 This sounds messy but works out well for a lot of temperatures we are used to, for example... 0C is 32F ... 100C is 212F ... 20C is 68F ... 30C is 86F ... etc.
- saiya-jin 4y ago
  Why on earth would anybody willingly do that, unless forced by situation... and that situation should not be happening in 2023, period. Heck, even whole science is on metric system and Celzius/Kelvin scale so there goes usability argument. I've heard all the excuses in past 4 decades whenever this topic comes up, but they can all be summed up as: butthurt ego, we are better than anybody and we don't care about reasons. In Europe, during more primitive medieval times, even my tiny little country that wasn't country before had maybe 10 different measure systems mostly based on human body, various weight systems etc. There were always reasons for system XYZ, different conversion tables and so on. They were not worse than what US uses now, and are all part of history for same very good reasons. Its not even a topic about 2 balanced viewpoints like driving left or right, metrics et al have trivial conversions so even folks struggling to finish primary school are well versed in it. What you describe is impossible to do for even older university-educated folks, unless they have been doing it for their whole lives.
- philote 4y ago
  I always forget when do subtract or add, or divide or multiply. So I use the known conversions 0->32, 100->212 to help remember.
cmcconomy 4y ago
what's your take on languages
mock-possum 4y ago
Dude we all have robot calculators in our pockets - it’s the work of seconds to convert with zero thought on the user’s part: “Hey Siri convert 190°F to Celsius.” “190°F is 87.77 degrees Celsius.” Boom. It is not very hard to convert.
hansvm 4y ago
The US represents half the readership on this forum. Audience-wise it's a "pick your poison" scenario in avoiding communication problems, so what's wrong with an individual copying their notes into a website not just leaving the units as written?

No, it is very hard to convert. The US has about 4% of the world population. Adapt. It's not worth the communication problems.

by 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.

gpvos 4y ago
I used a generic unit conversion app that has a specific function for F-to-C conversion. That takes a minute or so to start, enter the numbers, etc. I could have read tens of paragraphs of text in that time. I agree I'm being a bit harsh here, coming out of the blue on a random comment. But in general I'm very irritated that using non-metric units in an international forum is still a thing. The onus should be on the Americans in their communication, not on others. The UK and Canada have converted, or are in transition. It takes a generation or maybe two, but I'm certain it's worth the trouble.
kbouck 4y ago
not easy to convert accurately in your head, but google does unit conversion right in the search bar: "200 f to c" and macOS spotlight you can go even shorter: "200 f"

rsfern 4y ago

USian here, two perspectives. I wish we used the SI system, it’s clearly superior and I agree about the communication problems. It’s also really not that hard to convert temperature roughly, just a factor of two and a constant.

rplst8 4y ago

The US customary units have a lot advantages. For example: In Fahrenheit, 0 is really cold while 100 is really hot. In Celsius, 0 is kind of cold while 100 is damaging to life. With feet and inches, you can easily divide a foot by 2, 3, 4, and 6 with no repeating decimal digits. It's the same reason the ancient sumerians used base 60 for their number system. With liquid measure, a cup is roughly what would be considered a serving with a meal while a litre is one hundred millionth the distance from the equator to the north pole, cubed

AlecSchueler 4y ago
0 is freezing, 100 is boiling. 12 is a handy number but decimal calculation isn't difficult either, especially when all your units use the same. What is a cup? How do you do calculations with a third of a cup etc? I know a cup is roughly 200 mil. From exposure in life I know 200ml is about a cup of tea and 300ml is about a mug of coffee /can of come, 500 is a big can of beer. How many cups are in a can of beer?
- acapybara 4y ago
  A can of beer is 12oz or 16oz.
  - AlecSchueler 4y ago
    So you change which unit you're using depending on what you're measuring? Much handier.
- randomcarbloke 4y ago
  >/can of come You can buy it in cans now?
kimmk 4y ago
As a non-American I don't understand the Fahrenheit vs Celsius arguments. What's special about 0F being really cold and 100F feeling really hot? I find that -20C being really cold and 30C really hot quite intuitive and easy to understand. Also in terms of weather it is easy to understand that below zero temps snow and ice will form. Add the convenience that Celsius is basically just an offset of Kelvin and I really don't see the appeal of Fahrenheit at all.

itronitron 4y ago

F to C -> subtract 32 and divide by 1.8 C to F -> multiply by 1.8 and add 32 This sounds messy but works out well for a lot of temperatures we are used to, for example... 0C is 32F ... 100C is 212F ... 20C is 68F ... 30C is 86F ... etc.

saiya-jin 4y ago
Why on earth would anybody willingly do that, unless forced by situation... and that situation should not be happening in 2023, period. Heck, even whole science is on metric system and Celzius/Kelvin scale so there goes usability argument. I've heard all the excuses in past 4 decades whenever this topic comes up, but they can all be summed up as: butthurt ego, we are better than anybody and we don't care about reasons. In Europe, during more primitive medieval times, even my tiny little country that wasn't country before had maybe 10 different measure systems mostly based on human body, various weight systems etc. There were always reasons for system XYZ, different conversion tables and so on. They were not worse than what US uses now, and are all part of history for same very good reasons. Its not even a topic about 2 balanced viewpoints like driving left or right, metrics et al have trivial conversions so even folks struggling to finish primary school are well versed in it. What you describe is impossible to do for even older university-educated folks, unless they have been doing it for their whole lives.
philote 4y ago
I always forget when do subtract or add, or divide or multiply. So I use the known conversions 0->32, 100->212 to help remember.

cmcconomy 4y ago

what's your take on languages

mock-possum 4y ago

Dude we all have robot calculators in our pockets - it’s the work of seconds to convert with zero thought on the user’s part: “Hey Siri convert 190°F to Celsius.” “190°F is 87.77 degrees Celsius.” Boom. It is not very hard to convert.

hansvm 4y ago

The US represents half the readership on this forum. Audience-wise it's a "pick your poison" scenario in avoiding communication problems, so what's wrong with an individual copying their notes into a website not just leaving the units as written?