Should America go metric?

[logobola]

You mean finish going metric cause commerce and trade, science and many government facets it is already used. For the most part the metric has not been accepted at the state and public level. There is no "official" statement that it has been replaced, though really such a statement doesn't mean much. The United Kingdom "officially" states it is the main but the imperial system is still in use at times.

[Terridon]

Logically speaking metric may make more sense (It goes by 10s, does it not?), but I wouldn't say the imperial system is overly complex. Both systems are just simple memorization.

Metric: 1km to 1000m to 100 cm
Imperial: 1 mile to 5280 ft to 12 inches.

To me, I don't really care which system we use, really just depends on the situation (Science only place where it would be required).

I've had calculations with both. In physics you get to play with it too since you need to be able to convert all the diffrent units.
When you're asked to convert 1,3 miles to inches it's a lot more work than converting 1,3 km to cm. The last is something you can do in the head instantly, while the other require you to at least think for a bit, or go with a calculator.

[Adam Jensen]

Logically speaking metric may make more sense (It goes by 10s, does it not?), but I wouldn't say the imperial system is overly complex. Both systems are just simple memorization.

Metric: 1km to 1000m to 100 cm
Imperial: 1 mile to 5280 ft to 12 inches.

To me, I don't really care which system we use, really just depends on the situation (Science only place where it would be required).

---------- Post added 2012-12-12 at 09:31 PM ----------



Is there anything between meter and kilometer? Feels weird going straight from 1 meter to 1000 meters being 1 kilometer.

A decameter

https://www.google.com/search?q=deca...ient=firefox-a

[DeadlyAccuracy]

Is there anything between meter and kilometer? Feels weird going straight from 1 meter to 1000 meters being 1 kilometer.

Hectometer(hm) = 100 meters
However it is rarely used.

[Calzaeth]

Is there anything between meter and kilometer? Feels weird going straight from 1 meter to 1000 meters being 1 kilometer.

Not that I'm aware of, since centimeter is already in use (he he he). But at that point, the norm is to round the number off in everyday speech. ("Two and a half kilometres/quarter mile", "My pedometer says I just ran 6.7 kilometres" etc.)

@Deadlyaccuracy: Thanks! Makes sense, now when I think about it :P

[Terridon]

Because of the costs associated with switching over (ie, road signs, text books, reeducation). The world economy was in a better shape back then than it is right now, at least in the U.S. (unless I've been led astray by Utah's educational system yet again).

I think Utah has succeded this time ;D

[Neganova]

Is there anything between meter and kilometer? Feels weird going straight from 1 meter to 1000 meters being 1 kilometer.

Absolutely.

other things > Kilometer(1000m) > Hectometer(100m) > Dekameter(10m) > Meter(1m) > Decimeter(0.1m) > Centimeter(0.01m) > Millimeter(0.001m) > other things

Notice a pattern?

[Decagon]

Is there anything between meter and kilometer? Feels weird going straight from 1 meter to 1000 meters being 1 kilometer.

Yes, take a look at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_...itude_(length)

The ones outside of centimeter, meter, and kilometer and not commonly used though.

[breadisfunny]

i am against the metric system. your not changing my mind on this. i like the imperial system because its has a different way of measuring that more suits my tastes. celcius to me is not specific enough.

[TEHPALLYTANK]

Logically speaking metric may make more sense (It goes by 10s, does it not?), but I wouldn't say the imperial system is overly complex. Both systems are just simple memorization.

Metric: 1km to 1000m to 100 cm
Imperial: 1 mile to 5280 ft to 12 inches.

To me, I don't really care which system we use, really just depends on the situation (Science only place where it would be required).

---------- Post added 2012-12-12 at 09:31 PM ----------



Is there anything between meter and kilometer? Feels weird going straight from 1 meter to 1000 meters being 1 kilometer.

With how I do math metric makes it far simpler, I do math through logic not simple memorization.

[Decagon]

I think Utah has succeded this time ;D

DAMMIT! Every single day this happens!

[Kagdar]

I live in Canada, we switched to metric a long time ago, but i must say we still use the imperial system for a lot of things. For pretty much everything that is smaller than 1 km we regularly use feet/inches.

Heigth : i'm 6'2''
Houses : floor dimensions : 24x40 etc
TV : 50'' flat screen

The funny part is car wheels, mine are 205 50r17. Meaning 205 milimeters wide, 50 milimeters of tire thickness, and 17 inches of mag radius.

Should America go all metric? yes it's way more simplier. It will take forever though to really get implanted.

[Decagon]

i am against the metric system. your not changing my mind on this.

Reasoning?

[MCMXCIX]

I'm fine with my country going metric, but only after I die. Teaching my kids/grandkids in metric? "Daddy, how far is a kilometer?" "Um.........." /miles ftw

[Adam Jensen]

Well true, which is why I would prefer metric system being required in sciences, converting back and forth from the two systems is annoying in physics class. But, other than that, I see no reason why I should be bothered by which system is being used.

Well I do believe that we lost a satellite or a telescope or something a few years back because someone neglected to change from English to Metric. Getting rid of an unnecessary secondary system would simplify things and help us avoid ridiculous errors like that.

[Rotesbart]

'Metric' is hardly used anymore. Technically it got rolled up into SI units, which are the same, except metric's sub units (centimeter, decimeter, dekameter, etc) are not included. Instead everything is in x*1000 or x/1000 units. (Kilo, Mega, milli, micro) I only point out the difference between metric and SI, because those fields of study, as far as my experience, have all gone to SI, since scientific/engineering notation and only using the multiples of 1000 is simpler. Not intended to just be some flamewar over it being a semantic technicality. Even in non scientific/math/engineering work, such as automotive repair, all my sockets & wrenches that are tagged 'metric' really only use millimeter. I suspect they're only called metric because people recognize it. Either that, or the US is still anti France enough to not want to admit that they are the source of the new system's name. (Remind you of Freedom Fries?)

While we (meaning mostly college level educated people, who were exposed to any math/science/engineering type coursework) use SI, most of everyone else will be extremely difficult to convert to using SI from imperial units. (See Great Britain for how well converting people away from imperial units is going)

In the US, we have too much overall ignorance and stick in mud going on to change in any timescale but the very long. Can't just turn a switch and say 'We're going to not be retarded and backwards now!' If we even did what GB does, and have signs and packages and such labeled in both systems, I expect we'd have more traffic accidents as people read speed limit signs wrong on the roads.

[Adam Jensen]

In the US, we have too much overall ignorance and stick in mud going on to change in any timescale but the very long. Can't just turn a switch and say 'We're going to not be retarded and backwards now!' If we even did what GB does, and have signs and packages and such labeled in both systems, I expect we'd have more traffic accidents as people read speed limit signs wrong on the roads.

Not gonna lie, I was freaking out at first, riding in a car at 130 kph on the Autobahn when I went to Germany.

Didn't seem so bad once I realized that translates to 80 mph and I drive that fast all the time here in the states.

[Kavoo]

I like the chart you showed.. Minus the blatant bias against the American system.

Doesn't seem to stop us from being the first to get to Mars or the first in quite a bit of historical mile stones is it?

Shame.

American scientists use the metric system, fyi.

[Hiricine]

No on the grounds that itd be pointless, people rarely have to worry about converting units between the systems. I will say that a partial switch might make some sense--- Farenheit is much more practical for daily temperatures, for example. But don't you dare take away my foot-pound (also, metric "users" ironically measure kg's by weight, when Newton is their unit of force. The newton isn't a particualrly practical unit, though.

[Snes]

Reasoning?

The same reason stubborn people vote for the same political party every year without looking at each party's pros and cons.
ie: "My daddy voted *X*, so I'm gonna vote *X* and you're not gonna change that"