3 ms·

Yeah, never understood the "problem" with Fahrenheit. When I ask people to tell me why Celsius is better, many will tell me because its "decimal", and then I po

Yeah, never understood the "problem" with Fahrenheit. When I ask people to tell me why Celsius is better, many will tell me because its "decimal", and then I point out to them it is no more decimal than Fahrenheit, there are no "kilodegrees". They will then point out the water freezing/boiling, as if they regularly have to set that temperature to accomplish that (you don't, you just put water in the freezer or a kettle on the stove). Celcius is annoying from a practical perspective because you have less degrees to deal with in every day temperatures, and in Fahrenheit 0 is "cold" and 100 is "hot" (vs like -20 to 40).

lutorm 14y ago
It's "better" because it's just an offset Kelvin scale. So when you're doing delta calculations, there's no difference. And really, most temperature calculations are relative.
- tedunangst 14y ago
  Fahrenheit is just an offset Rankine scale.
  - cygx 14y ago
    Does anyone actually use the Rankine scale?
fatbird 14y ago
In Celsius, a negative temperature means snow instead of rain, or icy streets instead of wet. Whether the ambient temperature is below freezing is pretty useful knowledge, and more clearly expressed in Celsius. As for the difference between 16 and 17 degrees, the only people who give a shit are people who know how to use decimals for their measuring purposes. In everday use, the finer gradation of the Fahrenheit scale are irrelevant.
- tolmasky 14y ago
  The way to know whether it is going to snow or rain is to check the weather report, mainly because more factors go into that than just the temperature (for example, amount of moisture in the air, cold/warm fronts, etc -- which can lead to anything from snow, hail, sleet, or freezing rain). I imagine you are generally getting your temperature from a weather report anyways (unless you are looking at some sort of personal thermometer before heading out the door?) so the information will be presented to you there alongside it, not requiring you to do any mental calculus to figure this out yourself.
  - fatbird 14y ago
    It's not about whether it will snow or rain, it's about whether precipitation will be frozen or not, and all you need to know that, for precautionary reasons, is the temperature. It's not a large advantage of Celsius, but it is pervasive. ETA: To be clear, I'm Canadian, and grew up with Celsius. Whether the temp was positive or negative was the second thing worth knowing after the actual number. It was a very practically useful bit of knowledge in everyday life, easily given and easily remembered.

lutorm 14y ago

It's "better" because it's just an offset Kelvin scale. So when you're doing delta calculations, there's no difference. And really, most temperature calculations are relative.

tedunangst 14y ago
Fahrenheit is just an offset Rankine scale.
- cygx 14y ago
  Does anyone actually use the Rankine scale?

fatbird 14y ago

In Celsius, a negative temperature means snow instead of rain, or icy streets instead of wet. Whether the ambient temperature is below freezing is pretty useful knowledge, and more clearly expressed in Celsius. As for the difference between 16 and 17 degrees, the only people who give a shit are people who know how to use decimals for their measuring purposes. In everday use, the finer gradation of the Fahrenheit scale are irrelevant.

tolmasky 14y ago
The way to know whether it is going to snow or rain is to check the weather report, mainly because more factors go into that than just the temperature (for example, amount of moisture in the air, cold/warm fronts, etc -- which can lead to anything from snow, hail, sleet, or freezing rain). I imagine you are generally getting your temperature from a weather report anyways (unless you are looking at some sort of personal thermometer before heading out the door?) so the information will be presented to you there alongside it, not requiring you to do any mental calculus to figure this out yourself.
- fatbird 14y ago
  It's not about whether it will snow or rain, it's about whether precipitation will be frozen or not, and all you need to know that, for precautionary reasons, is the temperature. It's not a large advantage of Celsius, but it is pervasive. ETA: To be clear, I'm Canadian, and grew up with Celsius. Whether the temp was positive or negative was the second thing worth knowing after the actual number. It was a very practically useful bit of knowledge in everyday life, easily given and easily remembered.