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I suspect it is mostly whatever you grew up with first. (BTW my thumb is 5cm or longer depending on where you measure.) If metric was difficult or less relata
by rogerbinns 13y ago
I suspect it is mostly whatever you grew up with first. (BTW my thumb is 5cm or longer depending on where you measure.) If metric was difficult or less relatable then wouldn't people have noticed in the 190 or so countries that use it pervasively?
- Someone 13y agoAn inch is more or less the width of a thumb, not the length. It always surprises me how few people know that (is there a conspiracy in the USA, where parents teach their children about the inch at exactly the time their thumb is an inch long? When do they learn about the foot, then?) That should be obvious from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Roman_weights_and_measures#Length http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Roman_weights_and_measu..., which states "The Roman foot was sub-divided either like the Greek pous into 16 digiti or fingers; or into 12 unciae or inches". So, Romans thought a thumb to be longer than a finger by 4:3. I think it also makes sense when looking at the way one would measure stuff. How would you go about measuring something in thumb lengths with some accuracy? With widths, you can grab it between thumb and need finger of one hand, place thumb and index finger of the other hand next to it, move first pair to the other side, etc.
- rogerbinns 13y ago> An inch is more or less the width of a thumb My thumb width is 7/8th of an inch, and I'm 1m94cm tall. > is there a conspiracy in the USA Although I live in the US, I am an immigrant who grew up with the metric system and consequently not part of said conspiracy.