5 ms·

Like most other weird things in US that pertain to measurements and units thereof, letter-sized paper predates the A-series standard (which originated in German

Like most other weird things in US that pertain to measurements and units thereof, letter-sized paper predates the A-series standard (which originated in Germany). FWIW the latter didn't became an ISO standard until late 20th century. Americans are just very obstinate about those things. It's like the Windows of metrology - backwards compatibility trumps everything else, even when you have utterly bonkers things like ounces vs fluid ounces.

School-Cotton 2y ago
We are not particularly obstinate, we just have no strong reason to change. Metric is already used in areas where it actually matters (e.g. STEM)
- eadmund 2y ago
  > Metric is already used in areas where it actually matters (e.g. STEM) Using French Revolutionary units doesn’t really matter in STEM, either: one can conduct science just as well in any units one wishes. One unit of measure is not more scientific than another. For example, degrees Kelvin and Rankine measure the same thing with different units. If anything, the Rankine degrees are more precise!
  - pasc1878 2y ago
    However the abbreviation is STEM. For S and especiually M you can do in different units. For T&E it really matters see NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter and the need for heroics in the Gimli glider. You need to keep to the same unit.
    - eadmund 2y ago
      > For T&E it really matters see NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter and the need for heroics in the Gimli glider. > You need to keep to the same unit. Completely agreed. You’ll get similar issues if you have one set of parts using m/s and others using km/hr. And you’ll avoid those issues with any standard, whether it’s m/s, knots or mph. The important thing is to have a standard.
  - tialaramex 2y ago
    You shouldn't use degrees for Kelvin, it's an absolute unit, the degrees are needed for the relative units like Celsius. Anyway, the French system isn't what people mean by "metric" in this context, they mean the SI system of units, and so in practice it's not so much that it wouldn't matter which you choose as that you don't have any option except SI. If you wanted an independent system of units you'd need to do a lot of expensive metrication, and in practice Americans are too cheap for that, so the US "customary" units are just aliases for so-and-so-much amount of some SI unit, they aren't actually independent at all. The reason people focus on metric is that for everyday people that's the part which jumps out as more intuitive. All these nice powers of 10, very tidy.
  - deleted 2y ago
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  - rcxdude 2y ago
    It's useful in STEM because SI units are often straightforwardly defined in terms of one another, it substantially reduces the amount of arbitrary constants you need in your equations, making them a lot easier to work with.
HideousKojima 2y ago
>Americans are just very obstinate about those things. It's not just obstinance, switching everything to metric in the US would likely cost billions (if not trillions) of dollars. And other countries that have made the switch have often ended up with weird Frankensystems of measurement, like the UK where they mix metric and imperial all the time (plus the weird UK-specific measurements they have like "stone", which is based on the pound).
- andyferris 2y ago
  Other countries switched. Short term pain for long term gain.
  - HideousKojima 2y ago
    >Other countries switched. Except they didn't actually, see my points about the UK (similar points apply to Canada).
    - KolmogorovComp 2y ago
      Other countries than the UK and Canada exist.
  - coldpie 2y ago
    The trouble is there is just very little gain. It really just doesn't matter. All the systems are fine, they all work. If you come live here, you'll adjust after 2 years. If I moved to Europe, I would adjust in 2 years. Once in a blue moon you have to bother with converting units but c'est la vie. There's bigger things to worry about.
    - int_19h 2y ago
      I've been living in US for 15 years now and I still can't remember which unit scales are factor-of-3 and which ones are factor-of-4. How many cups are there in a gallon? How many yards in a mile? I don't want to waste my brain cells on stuff like this, yet it comes up all the time in e.g. cooking, or using maps for navigation.

School-Cotton 2y ago

We are not particularly obstinate, we just have no strong reason to change. Metric is already used in areas where it actually matters (e.g. STEM)

eadmund 2y ago
> Metric is already used in areas where it actually matters (e.g. STEM) Using French Revolutionary units doesn’t really matter in STEM, either: one can conduct science just as well in any units one wishes. One unit of measure is not more scientific than another. For example, degrees Kelvin and Rankine measure the same thing with different units. If anything, the Rankine degrees are more precise!
- pasc1878 2y ago
  However the abbreviation is STEM. For S and especiually M you can do in different units. For T&E it really matters see NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter and the need for heroics in the Gimli glider. You need to keep to the same unit.
  - eadmund 2y ago
    > For T&E it really matters see NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter and the need for heroics in the Gimli glider. > You need to keep to the same unit. Completely agreed. You’ll get similar issues if you have one set of parts using m/s and others using km/hr. And you’ll avoid those issues with any standard, whether it’s m/s, knots or mph. The important thing is to have a standard.
- tialaramex 2y ago
  You shouldn't use degrees for Kelvin, it's an absolute unit, the degrees are needed for the relative units like Celsius. Anyway, the French system isn't what people mean by "metric" in this context, they mean the SI system of units, and so in practice it's not so much that it wouldn't matter which you choose as that you don't have any option except SI. If you wanted an independent system of units you'd need to do a lot of expensive metrication, and in practice Americans are too cheap for that, so the US "customary" units are just aliases for so-and-so-much amount of some SI unit, they aren't actually independent at all. The reason people focus on metric is that for everyday people that's the part which jumps out as more intuitive. All these nice powers of 10, very tidy.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- rcxdude 2y ago
  It's useful in STEM because SI units are often straightforwardly defined in terms of one another, it substantially reduces the amount of arbitrary constants you need in your equations, making them a lot easier to work with.

HideousKojima 2y ago

>Americans are just very obstinate about those things. It's not just obstinance, switching everything to metric in the US would likely cost billions (if not trillions) of dollars. And other countries that have made the switch have often ended up with weird Frankensystems of measurement, like the UK where they mix metric and imperial all the time (plus the weird UK-specific measurements they have like "stone", which is based on the pound).

andyferris 2y ago
Other countries switched. Short term pain for long term gain.
- HideousKojima 2y ago
  >Other countries switched. Except they didn't actually, see my points about the UK (similar points apply to Canada).
  - KolmogorovComp 2y ago
    Other countries than the UK and Canada exist.
- coldpie 2y ago
  The trouble is there is just very little gain. It really just doesn't matter. All the systems are fine, they all work. If you come live here, you'll adjust after 2 years. If I moved to Europe, I would adjust in 2 years. Once in a blue moon you have to bother with converting units but c'est la vie. There's bigger things to worry about.
  - int_19h 2y ago
    I've been living in US for 15 years now and I still can't remember which unit scales are factor-of-3 and which ones are factor-of-4. How many cups are there in a gallon? How many yards in a mile? I don't want to waste my brain cells on stuff like this, yet it comes up all the time in e.g. cooking, or using maps for navigation.