Imperial VS Metric

[Muzjhath]

if mili is 1000 to a meter
centi is 100
????? is 10 to a meter? - "deci"
and ofc meter is meter....

arbitrary numerical values either way, a foot is always a foot, a meter is always a meter, so forth for other measurements, both sets of numbers are set in stone.
with the only benefit from metric is it's easy to go between unit sizes. which promotes laziness.
but both suffer from the "being arbitrary" that the pic srjtnt posted.
as when it comes to universal laws though, we took human made measurements, and add them to a scientific measurement...but heh anyway..

The difference is that while the imperial units are arbitrary, the only SI unit that's arbitrary is the kilogram. But it's being worked at!
Every other has a specific variable to let us discover it again. If the exact lenth of an inch was lost to humans. It'd never be discovered again.
If the exact lenth of the meter was lost, but not the sorce (Which depends on us still having the same definition of a second).
The celsius is again recreational at observing water and grading from there at exact points of entalpy. (The only reason celsius is still used is that it's a bloody mouthful saying that it's threehundred and two degrees outside, while twenty five degrees is easy)

[Kalis]

that honestly doesn't matter, ours or theirs, unless you'd been in a coma you could look at either date style and figure it out pretty much instantly
(for example if it's june 7th, saying 7-6-13 or 6-7-13....well it's freaking june...is it really that hard to figure out which the month is???)

people complaining about that are literally nitpicking grasping for straws about a problem that isn't even there.

It's somewhat difficult to tell whether they are talking about June or July if you happen to be in February.

[Tradewind]

Not sure, I just grew up using Imperial. Im quite capable of mulitplying by 10 but there is sooooo many prefixes to remember. If I look at a dollar bill I can estimate its 6 inches long. If you ask me how many centimeters it is Id have to get a calculator. Plus how do you know if it should be measured in centimeters or millimeters. Sometimes you see things listed as 2100 mm when you would think it should say 210 centimeters. To me its like someone asking me how long is a piece of string. I just find it difficult to remember all the prefixes and in what order they are used, you got pico, nano, micro, mini, milli, deca, centi, kilo, exa, peta, iso, mega, and many more to try and remember. I find its just easier when most things are measured in just 4 basic lengths. (Inch, foot, yard, mile).

Its OK to have big numbers. It seems to me that other people just hate big numbers. Its probably why they are all gung ho over the item squish in WoW

Deciding between milli centi meter kilo etc is no different than deciding between inches yards and furlongs...whichever makes more sense for what you're measuring...

You're not going to measure the distance from one city to another in fuckin' millimeters...you'd use kilometers because it's specific enough for that measurement.

If you're trying to measure the gap between a sparkplug, you'd probably use millimeters and so on. This fabricated confusion is what gets me...

[Muzjhath]

I'm going to take a stab in the dark and guess they didn't scale metres based on a light year as they didn't know what a light year was - it would have been fucking impressive if they had done so.

I don't think metric makes many claims that distance wasn't decided arbitrarily, just that it is simpler to use.

It was decided entierly arbitrarily. But it was with a distance/number that would be messurable again if the original got lost.

[Kalis]

I don't understand whats so bad about the imperial system honestly. If you learn it school its not a big issue and its not totally illogical, it runs on a system of 3s and miles are only so large so that larger distances can be represented by a smaller number. Seems fine to me.

14lb = 1st
16oz = 1lb

What school did you learn your Imperial measurements in?

[Kellhound]

So you were wrong, and I was right then.

Not totally.

[Muzjhath]

This fabricated confusion is what gets me...

Like every fabricated confusion it lies in the base (subconsious or not) of someone not wanting to understand and learn.
Same as how people who identify themselves as their ideas/ideals will never accept that they're wrong (Or how people who've spend over a thousand dollars on a videogame will never admit that they don't enjoy it anymore).

[Carlosdanger]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_Conversion_Act

/thread

[Kellhound]

Actually, there is one good reason to not use the metric system, it is too French.

[Kalis]

Actually, there is one good reason to not use the metric system, it is too French.

Now we can agree on something.

[Christan]

I'm going to take a stab in the dark and guess they didn't scale metres based on a light year as they didn't know what a light year was - it would have been fucking impressive if they had done so.

I don't think metric makes many claims that distance wasn't decided arbitrarily, just that it is simpler to use.

it was estimated by a stopwatch / clocktower..by jupiter..etc...

The first true measurement of light-speed came in 1676 by a fellow named Olaf Roemer. He noted that the time elapsed between eclipses of Jupiter with its moons became shorter as the Earth moved closer to Jupiter and became longer as the Earth and Jupiter drew farther apart. This anomalous behavior could be accounted for by a finite speed of light. He calculated that the speed of light was something like 2.14 x 10^8 meters per second. This measurement, considering its antiquity, method of measurement, and 17th century uncertainty in exactly how far Jupiter was from the Earth, is surprisingly close to the modern value of 2.99792458 x 10^8 meters per second. These modern values are obtained using devices called laser interferometers, which can very precicely pin down speeds and distances.

the first estimate in 1676(yes that long ago) was apparently surprisingly close to our modern understanding of it's speed
and knowing speed, you just change hours for years, etc...

thing is...it's not just distance, celcius is wrong also
273.16K is when water freezes, there's not even a perfect link for kelvin/celcius, but i guess "close enough" works kelvin was made later to fit the scale for celcius, then they figured out where absolute 0 would be...so sure both units "are" the same degree's of difference, and back to asking why it had to be water? what about boiling/freezing mercury, etc...

both systems are "arbitrary" with metric promoting laziness, flex them brain muscles..

although metric does allow for cleaner conversions of equations...so heh...i don't mind a bit of laziness when it saves the human mind some effort(computers however don't give a heck what the numbers are, just size, as they take all numbers down to binary) but heh...yea metric is better...but all this hate on imperial is BS, since metric is as arbitrary blah blah blah...just cleaner math is all.

[Deleted]

Actually, there is one good reason to not use the metric system, it is too French.

So you name it as a Freedom Metric system?

[prwraith]

Eh I learned them both. It's whatever now they both work, albeit one is easier than the other

[Kalis]

the first estimate in 1676(yes that long ago) was apparently surprisingly close to our modern understanding of it's speed

I did not know that, thank you.

[Kellhound]

So you name it as a Freedom Metric system?

No, Frog Metric System.

[Tradewind]

But it was with a distance/number that would be messurable again if the original got lost.

So was metric

The original meter is 1/10,000,000th of the distance from the north pole to the equator. Which is kind of nuts, now it's based on a fraction of the speed of light. From there it's a bit less obscure. 1L is equal to 1 cubic dm, and 1L of liquid pure water is equal to 1kg.

[Deleted]

both systems are "arbitrary" with metric promoting laziness, flex them brain muscles..
.

I'd call it convenience because, let's be honest, the imperial system sucks.

[Kalis]

So was metric

The original meter is 1/10,000,000th of the distance from the north pole to the equator. Which is kind of nuts, now it's based on a fraction of the speed of light. From there it's a bit less obscure. 1L is equal to 1 cubic dm, and 1L of liquid pure water is equal to 1kg.

Why do you spell it meter and not the correct way, metre?

What is wrong with you Canadians? We let you use our Queen as your head of state, and you backstab us with this foreign shit.

[Tradewind]

Why do you spell it meter and not the correct way, metre?

What is wrong with you Canadians? We let you use our Queen as your head of state, and you backstab us with this foreign shit.

I dunno, I get caught spelling it color and colour too. Hybrid king's english and honkey.

Like "rum" vs "hooch."

[Lunzium]

Actually, there is one good reason to not use the metric system, it is too French.

What do you have against the french? Without them there would be no USA