5 ms·
What problem does a meter solve that a foot doesn't? Easy conversions between different sized measures of distance. 1000 beats in a day is easier to keep track
by Kejistan 18y ago
What problem does a meter solve that a foot doesn't? Easy conversions between different sized measures of distance. 1000 beats in a day is easier to keep track of than 1440 minutes. Just because its not easily converted to from the units you're used to doesn't make it "bad" (2.54cm to 1 inch?).
- lucasoman 18y agoMeters by themselves don't solve anything. But the whole metric system makes a lot of sense; everything is a power of ten, a cubic centimeter equals a milliliter, which makes length=>volume conversion trivial, etc. From infancy, seconds, minutes and hours are ingrained in our minds. 60 is also a beautiful number, being divisible by 2,3,4,5,6,10,12,15,20,30. Given a time, like 10:42AM, a person can conjure feelings, instincts and memories about that time. Using a system based on 1000 "beats" would make time measurement meaningless for a very long time. Outside of the Internet, most "normal" people communicate predominately with people in their own area and timezone, making the benefit of no timezones moot.
- Semiapies 18y agoFurther, the metric system offered universality between conflicting measures. However, people around the world already use the single measuring system of hours, minutes, and seconds (that last being a SI unit), and UTC is a global standard.
- mechanical_fish 18y agoJust because its not easily converted to from the units you're used to doesn't make it "bad" You have clearly never met an American machinist. ;)
- joe_bleau 18y agoEver try and cut metric threads on an engine (non-CNC) lathe? Hope you didn't disengage the half-nut...