Kilometres and kg
- Thread starter teaboy5
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The 13a 3 pin plug was invented in the UK about the 1930s
Acres are still used when buying land in the UK\USA
I avoid using the crap
Associate
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Actually 1947. And we use metric units for electrical conductors.
Chains and links?
A little bit o/t but I had a cardiac check up at hospital this week and the Ukrainian ecg operator asked if I knew my weight, preferably in kg, I said, “Give me a second, err 82 I think.”
He pulled some scales out and said, “Get on, we’ll check......... you were close, 81.4.”
After the ecg I had to see the cardiologist, she said, “What’s your weight Mr. Genou?”
I said, “Just had that done, 81.4 kg.”
She said, “Let’s check”, I got on her scales and she said “84kg exactly.”
I know the NHS is in disarray, but you’d think that they’d have all their scales on the same page.
He pulled some scales out and said, “Get on, we’ll check......... you were close, 81.4.”
After the ecg I had to see the cardiologist, she said, “What’s your weight Mr. Genou?”
I said, “Just had that done, 81.4 kg.”
She said, “Let’s check”, I got on her scales and she said “84kg exactly.”
I know the NHS is in disarray, but you’d think that they’d have all their scales on the same page.
I think this thread proves that for some things metric is best and for others imperial units work as well or better. But it is open for people to use whichever they please as long as it is safe and practical.
A pound to one old penny, someone strongly disagrees.
A pound to one old penny, someone strongly disagrees.
Soldato
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So while you're trying to figure out how to measure an infinitely recurring decimal place, I've already finished work and gone for a pint.Did you learn decimal places at school?
Go on then. Tell us how you measured that 100cm in inches then divided by 6 without any rounding...
Are you measuring critical aerospace engine parts? Or the length of your table????
Soldato
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I wouldn't have measured it in centimetres to begin with...
However, 100cm is 3' 3 3/8ths", which divided by 6 would give you 6 9/16ths".
A bit more exact than 16.6666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666....
Yes....
Well, not aerospace. Hydroengineering, with some woodworking on the side.
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I think it's clear from this thread that there is a majority of rational people who use proper measures (metric 
). The fact that SI units also use meters and kilogrammes is good enough for me.
). The fact that SI units also use meters and kilogrammes is good enough for me.It doesn't make a difference how you measure it, it's still the same size. It doesnt fit neatly into a fraction of an inch so you need to round it.
It's not more exact.
You've rounded your answers to get neat fractions and ended up with a less exact answer as a result.
6 9/16ths" is 16.66875cm, not 16.6...
Soldato
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Apparently not....
6 9/16ths" is 16.66875cm, or 16.67cm, or 16.65cm, depending of course on which calculator you use....... and yet 16.666666666666666666666666cm (however many sixes you put on the end) always comes out at 6 9/16ths", regardless of whether you use an online calculator, a digital rule, or even your own mental arithmetic.
The division doesn't fit neatly into fractions of a centimetre either - Base 12 has more even splits than Base 10, so why would you expect an uneven Base 10 measure to split evenly using base 12 measures over its own?
There's some kind of flawed expectation you've based your challenge upon, here.
Even my cheap tape measure does 32nds". The expensive one at work does 64ths". Both are more exact than a milimetre measure.
My digital measures only do metric to two decimal places, while it will do imperial to 3½ decimal places. Blokes in the workshops have some digital ones that display it in actual fractions, which is kinda cool.
I think this thread proves that for some things metric is best and for others imperial units work as well or better. But it is open for people to use whichever they please as long as it is safe and practical.
A pound to one old penny, someone strongly disagrees.
There are 240 pennies to a pound. Unless you're using metric, of course.
Any system of units will work just fine for people who understand the system. It only becomes a problem when converting between different systems is required (and then only sometimes) or when different units are given the same name. Inch, for example. English inch, Scottish inch, French inch...all the same name, all different values. There were probably other inches too. It's not a new thing, e.g. we can't be sure how accurate Eratosthenes' calculation of the size of the Earth was because he used cubits and there were 3 different cubits in use at the time. His method was right(*) but we don't know for sure how accurate his measurements were.
The idea that a particular system is inherently better is a reflection of what a person is used to. Metric is easier to use, more consistent, etc, but that that doesn't make it inherently better. If people are used to measuring distances in barleycorns with a dozen different names for different numbers of barleycorns and no consistency between them, that'll work as well for them.
And less exact than a micrometre measure. Also, how exact are those 1/32 inch measurements on your tape measure? But you're mistaking accuracy of measuring equipment with accuracy of units of measurement. A metre is defined with vastly more accuracy than a late medieval English inch (which is the inch you're using). The distance travelled by light in a vacuum in 1/299792458th of a second (the basis of the definition of a metre) is a vastly more accurate measurement than one grain of barley (the basis of the definition of a late medieval English inch). Although it's a moot point nowadays as inches are now defined in metres. The imperial system is essentially the metric system with a complex mess of multiple conversion factors on top.
* Strictly speaking, it would be right if the Earth was the perfect sphere he thought it was. Which isn't quite the case, but the ancient Greeks had no chance of detecting the tiny deviation from a perfect sphere with the equipment they had for astronomy (eyes, brains, sticks and string).
Soldato
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That's the classic one to bring up.
Makes you wonder how the American's ever did any kind of engineering.
Although since they like to draw technical drawings in thou's (aka 25.4 microns), they at least are good at pretending to be engineers.
Also, they are clever enough to not have to remember how many pounds to a stone as they don't use stones!
As an engineer in a previous existence I was momentarily flummoxed by poundals when reviewing calculations prepared in America. The force required to accelerate a mass of one pound by one foot per second squared. Having used archaic English units for older structure in the UK with Dorman Long steel tables and also modern SI units, newton's, metres and kilograms, it added another level of complication.
However having also checked and translated calculations in Italian for a piling rig, I did wonder if their SI was the same as ours on occasion.
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Is a normal clock using metric or Imperial?
What metric do women use to define their age, most older ones seem to use a different one to men....
What metric do women use to define their age, most older ones seem to use a different one to men....
Time is astronomical and no mathematicians have derived a better scale to define it. As for the other I will not get into thatIs a normal clock using metric or Imperial?
What metric do women use to define their age, most older ones seem to use a different one to men....
Soldato
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It says EC Class I, being ±0.4mm over 3m, with a maximum 0.001% margin of error.
Not at all - The former is a factor if you're actually measuring, in response to the assertion, "It doesn't make a difference how you measure it"... while the latter is more about highlighting the differences between the units, and how you do get different results depending on how you measure it with each of them.
But how often is it actually measured to that same degree of accuracy in the real world, rather than just rounding up to a decimal place or two?
In most cases I would assert that a half-millimetre is typical, while the equivalent imperial measuring kit goes a little bit finer than that, hence more exact.