Metric vs Imperial

[Famine]

Metric wins and here's why

Now try seconds per day, metres (I'll let you use kilometres, megametres, gigametres or terametres if you wish) per Astronomical Unit or degrees per circle.

 

[arora]

Ah good ol gtp, where else can I count on to be called retarded? 👍

 

[Liquid]

Now try seconds per day, metres (I'll let you use kilometres, megametres, gigametres or terametres if you wish) per Astronomical Unit or degrees per circle.

 

[Tornado]

Metric wins and here's why:

Rollercoasters are fun. Boat hires are not.


Ergo, Imperial is better.

 

[W3H5]

I use both having grown up in the UK with my grandfather doing everything in imperial and then studying at school in metric and then doing engineering in college in both.

I'll often mix and match the two stating my height in feet and my weight in kg, or tell somebody how far I cycled in km but the speed of which in miles.

It's fun to confuse people.

 

[Grayfox]

I use metric, but I have taught my self some imperial.

Think there are only 3 Countries that fully use imperial.

 

[G.T.Ace]

Now try seconds per day, metres (I'll let you use kilometres, megametres, gigametres or terametres if you wish) per Astronomical Unit or degrees per circle.

Aren't seconds a day outside of the metric system and what do you mean with the AU per circle? We use the metric system exclusively in mathematics in school here. One AU has 149 597 870 700 metres, how is that easier with imperial?

Standard time isn't metric

O' really? I didn't want to edit that picture just because of that.

 

[Nicksfix]

It may be due to how they tend teach the imperial system from such a young age that you become accustomed to it after years of usage

That is what I was brought up on and still use it today. Metrics are not that hard to use, it's just that pretty much everything here in the states is still using the Imperial scale.

 

[Liquid]

Aren't seconds a day outside of the metric system and what do you mean with the AU per circle? We use the metric system exclusively in mathematics in school here. One AU has 149 597 870 700 metres, how is that easier with imperial?

He just meant that it's not base 10. Just like there are 360 degrees in a complete revolution, or circle.

Therefore, metric sux n isnt regulr.

[/Anti-AUP]

As for time, the second is metric, but minutes, hours, days and so on are not metric. To clarify, and correct myself a bit, the second is the only SI unit for measuring time. Plus, standard time's bases are 60, 24, 7, 28/29/30/31 and 12, depending on what you are measuring. Not very metric.

 

[Slash]

I hate how they call it "Imperial". They make it sound like it's better than everything else.

 

[G.T.Ace]

He just meant that it's not base 10. Just like there are 360 degrees in a complete revolution, or circle.

Well, yes, of course it isn't, but when do you use that stuff as a normal person in your everyday life?

the second is the only SI unit for measuring time

That's why we use metres per second to measure speed on a scientific level.

 

[Liquid]

I hate how they call it "Imperial". They make it sound like it's better than everything else.

Imperial =/= US customary units.

We differ slightly on gallons, quarts, tonnes, hundredweights and stones. Measurements of weights, generally.

You don't use the imperial system.

Well, yes, of course it isn't, but when do you use that stuff as a normal person in your everyday life?

I don't think that's the point. You can't call the imperial system totally loony when some of your own measurements are not completely equal and rational.

That's why we use metres per second to measure speed on a scientific level.

Point taken.

 

[McLaren]

That is what I was brought up on and still use it today. Metrics are not that hard to use, it's just that pretty much everything here in the states is still using the Imperial scale.

Indeed. I decided to learn it after high school, but it's hard to actually use it when it's rarely used at all or when people look at you as if you're speaking a foreign language.

 

[arora]

That's why we use metres per second to measure speed on a scientific level.

How many seconds in a minute, 100?

I'm failing to see how say, yards per second would be different.

 

[Zenith]

Imperial is used for all serious aerodynamic calculations. Imperial is also useful for people like carpenters. They know an inch is roughly the width of their thumb. They know a foot is roughly the length of their foot. They know a yard is roughly the length of a step.

 

[Liquid]

How many seconds in a minute, 100?

I'm failing to see how say, yards per second would be different.

Because metres and seconds are both SI units, so they match up. Yards aren't metric and neither are minutes.

Like has been established, our measurement of time is neither metric nor imperial. It's a bit of both.

 

[arora]

As clear as a rainy day.

 

[G.T.Ace]

I don't think that's the point. You can't call the imperial system totally loony when some of your own measurements are not completely equal and rational.

I never called it totally loony, the picture is also not too serious.

How many seconds in a minute, 100?

I'm failing to see how say, yards per second would be different.

Time =/= metric system. A second is the only SI unit, but of course it doesn't really matter. Speed is speed and time is relative. We measure minutes, hours, days etc. outside of anything else and everywhere with the same rules.

But if you want to measure distances, or volumes, metric makes a lot more sense.

 

[arora]

but of course it doesn't really matter.

Indeed.

 

[Liquid]

I never called it totally loony, the picture is also not too serious.

Haha, yeah I know. This all stemmed from Famine's "oh snap!" moment.

Let's not get too carried away and serious here.

 

[Famine]

Well, yes, of course it isn't, but when do you use that stuff as a normal person in your everyday life?

Time I use quite a bit.

The stuff with circles... well, just about everything in your home, office and car have been engineered using calculations involving circles. So quite a bit.


Metric is just Base10 counting and though the SI measuring system uses predominantly Base10, one of its fundamental units is very much not Base10 - the second.

And that's rather the point. You can't call a measuring system where units can vary from the Base10 1000 smaller units per bigger one silly when your entire existence depends on a measuring system where this exact thing occurs.

It's at least as sensible to use:
12 inches = 1 foot; 3 feet = 1 yard; 22 yards = 1 chain; 8 chains = 1 furlong; 8 furlongs = 1 mile

As it is to use:
60 seconds = 1 minute; 60 minutes = 1 hour; 24 hours = 1 week; 4 to 4.428571 recurring weeks = 1 month; 12 months = 1 year +/- leap days and leap seconds

Remember, every time you say "It's Thursday", you're not using the metric system...

That's why we use metres per second to measure speed on a scientific level.

Thus mixing a metric SI unit with a non-metric one...

 

[Liquid]

Remember, every time you say "It's Thursday", you're not using the metric system...

Confession: The whole +3 for calculating 10 days time sometimes confuses me and takes me a few ironic seconds to work out.

It's just a mental blind spot I sometimes get.

 

[Jay]

Australians use the metric system?

We use only Metric, though almost everyone knows imperial fairly well due to being so cosy with other nations and old people.

 

[Tornado]

I hate how they call it "Imperial". They make it sound like it's better than everything else.

Because it simply is better than anything else.

 

[Zenith]

/thread

 

[G.T.Ace]

@Famine:
That's why I said it makes more sense for distances and volumes.
I also never called Imperial silly myself (again, the picture isn't meant too serious)
Time is calculated the same everywhere, so I won't discuss this here, but if you want to calculate a simple distance, or the volume of something, metric is definitely easier to use, especially in your everyday life. I'm also pissed off that display, wheel and speaker sizes are always measured in inches here, it's really confusing because you don't use it anywhere else in central Europe.

EDIT:

The stuff with circles... well, just about everything in your home, office and car have been engineered using calculations involving circles. So quite a bit.

I also don't quite get what this has to do with the discussion here.
A circle is calculated with the same formulas everywhere too.

 

[Famine]

@Famine:
That's why I said it makes more sense for distances and volumes.

It makes no more sense. We already have a set of arbitrary multipliers for time - so what makes time so special we make an exception for it that kids then have to learn?

Someone asked earlier what exactly a foot is. The same question can easily be posed for SI units - what exactly is a second? What exactly is a metre? What exactly is a kilogram (odd exception - the SI base unit is named after thousands of a smaller unit)?

A second is 9,192,631,770 oscillations of a Caesium-133 atom.
A metre is the distance light travels in 30.6633189[wholebunchonumbers] oscillations of a Caesium-133 atom.
A kilogram is the mass of 1.000025 litres of water at 4 degrees Celsius.

None of these are particularly fundamental or sensible. They're all seemingly arbitrary numbers to base standards on. In that company, feet seem sane...

I also don't quite get what this has to do with the discussion here.
A circle is calculated with the same formulas everywhere too.

The subdivision of circles are degrees (360), minutes (60) and seconds (60). You know where you are on the planet because of degrees, minutes and seconds - check yourself out on Google Earth some time. And we like to divide up circles by one of the most bizarre numbers of all - pi - in order to make lengths out of them. There's no metrication in sight with circles.

There's a rare beauty to Imperial systems that metric systems don't have - but have to preserve for circles and time because metrication cannot deal with them.


Personally I like to count everything in Planck units.

 

[Dan_]

A second is 9,192,631,770 oscillations of a Caesium-133 atom.
A metre is the distance light travels in 30.6633189[wholebunchonumbers] oscillations of a Caesium-133 atom.
A kilogram is the mass of 1.000025 litres of water at 4 degrees Celsius.

Seriously mate, you're not human... How can someone possibly know that?

 

[Slash]

It makes no more sense. We already have a set of arbitrary multipliers for time - so what makes time so special we make an exception for it that kids then have to learn?

Someone asked earlier what exactly a foot is. The same question can easily be posed for SI units - what exactly is a second? What exactly is a metre? What exactly is a kilogram (odd exception - the SI base unit is named after thousands of a smaller unit)?

A second is 9,192,631,770 oscillations of a Caesium-133 atom.
A metre is the distance light travels in 30.6633189[wholebunchonumbers] oscillations of a Caesium-133 atom.
A kilogram is the mass of 1.000025 litres of water at 4 degrees Celsius.

None of these are particularly fundamental or sensible. They're all seemingly arbitrary numbers to base standards on. In that company, feet seem sane...The subdivision of circles are degrees (360), minutes (60) and seconds (60). You know where you are on the planet because of degrees, minutes and seconds - check yourself out on Google Earth some time. And we like to divide up circles by one of the most bizarre numbers of all - pi - in order to make lengths out of them. There's no metrication in sight with circles.

There's a rare beauty to Imperial systems that metric systems don't have - but have to preserve for circles and time because metrication cannot deal with them.


Personally I like to count everything in Planck units.

Every bit of that was a foreign language to me

 

[G.T.Ace]

It makes no more sense. We already have a set of arbitrary multipliers for time - so what makes time so special we make an exception for it that kids then have to learn?

If there would be general unit for time measurement, which would be base 10, I would like to use it too, but there isn't. Time is special because it's measured the same everywhere in the world, there's no easier alternative, yet.

Someone asked earlier what exactly a foot is. The same question can easily be posed for SI units - what exactly is a second? What exactly is a metre? What exactly is a kilogram (odd exception - the SI base unit is named after thousands of a smaller unit)?

The thing is, it's easier to explain what a kilogram is (1000 gram, kilo = 1000), a metre has 100 centimetres, a centimetre has 10 millimetres and so on. Let's say you are traveling to a town 13,6 km away and you want to know how many metres you have to travel (for whatever reason), it's much easier to calculate in your head than "how many yards are 8,45 miles".

The subdivision of circles are degrees (360), minutes (60) and seconds (60).

Again, it doesn't really matter, because there's no other way to calculate it.

P.S.: I hope what I post makes sense, because it's still hard for me to discuss scientific matters in English.