Posted by tallman at 2:14pm Oct 15 '07I recently became curious as to why the US still uses imperial measurements (i.e. foot, yard, mile, gallon, Fahrenheit, etc...) in day to day life. The assumption I grew up with is that Americans are stupid/lazy and don't want to adopt the new system.
However, that doesn't seem right. If the metric system really was better, why wouldn't we use it?
Of course, as it turns out, we do use the metric system... but only in situations where it makes sense. Most notably, the metric system is used in science and engineering, and I certainly agree that the metric system is far superior to the imperial system when it comes to such matters.
But most of us aren't scientists. Using powers of ten is quite useful when it comes to abstract calculations like those used in science, but what about day to day life? Portions of the imperial system are based on the number 12, rather than 10. Wacky, right? Why on earth would those morons who designed the imperial system use 12?
Well, for starters, 12 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, 6, and 12. That means you can evenly divide up your groceries or a length of wood or whatever with just a few easy mental calculations. These are all natural divisions of things that can be portioned out evenly by hand. And such proportions show up in nature all the time. Powers of 10... not so much. Sure, we have 5 fingers and 2 hands (yay 10), but try dividing 10 eggs amongst 6 people (here's your 1.66666666666666666666666666... eggs, sir!) Yeah, it's a lot easier to switch units in the metric system (just add a zero or move the decimal), but try telling that to the carpeter who has to measure out 0.33333333333333333333... meters.
Celsius versus Fahrenheit? Ohhh, Celsius is based on water, so that's much better than Fahrenheit, right? 0 is freezing and 100 (approximately) is boiling. Brilliant! However, this scale of measurement turns out to be pretty much irrelevant to actual humans, whose comfort levels are roughly between zero and 100 Fahrenheit. Ok, so freezing point of water (32 F or 0 C) is important when it comes to weather, but still, Fahrenheit's not completely retarded.
I think what it really comes down to is this: measurements are created for specific purposes. The people who created the English system had very specific reasons for doing so, and they're every bit as good as those of the metric system when it comes to their intended purpose. The metric system has it's own specific reasons for being, and it's far superior to the imperial system in those respects.
I think one of the primary reasons the imperial system is so annoying to some people is that it's inconsistent, and many people attribute lots of other measurement scales to it even when they're not offically part of it. These other measurement scales were built for the same reason - they were needed to serve a specific purpose. Liquid measurements seem particularly vulnerable to this. You've got the gallon, the old English wine gallon, the dry gallon (aka Winchester Gallon), the modern imperial gallon, etc... Hell, the US system differs significantly from the official imperial system. Liquids are difficult because they depend on so many environmental factors. This is perhaps why metric has cought on a little in the US when it comes to liquids (for a lot of drinks, though strangely not milk).
One other interesting thing I found in my (brief) research is that even people in countries with official metric standards use other forms of measurement when called for. In Japan, the construction industry still uses traditional Japanese measurements that predate the metric system. I'm willing to bet that no one goes to a pub to get 568.2 ml of beer (we call that a Pint dammit!).
Of course, using two primary forms of measurement causes all sorts of problems on it's own. The biggest example of this (for me, at least) is the loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter in the late 1990s. The root cause of that issue was that NASA engineers were using both imperial and metric systems for their measurements. Bah.
Ok, I've babbled enough. It seems to me that there are at least some reasons why the imperial system is worth keeping for some things, even while the metric system is far superior for some other things...
~[private]
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2431521.ece
"The idea that you could not go for a pint in a pub in Britain is not acceptable."
Hehehe. Heh.
However, that doesn't seem right. If the metric system really was better, why wouldn't we use it?
Of course, as it turns out, we do use the metric system... but only in situations where it makes sense. Most notably, the metric system is used in science and engineering, and I certainly agree that the metric system is far superior to the imperial system when it comes to such matters.
But most of us aren't scientists. Using powers of ten is quite useful when it comes to abstract calculations like those used in science, but what about day to day life? Portions of the imperial system are based on the number 12, rather than 10. Wacky, right? Why on earth would those morons who designed the imperial system use 12?
Well, for starters, 12 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, 6, and 12. That means you can evenly divide up your groceries or a length of wood or whatever with just a few easy mental calculations. These are all natural divisions of things that can be portioned out evenly by hand. And such proportions show up in nature all the time. Powers of 10... not so much. Sure, we have 5 fingers and 2 hands (yay 10), but try dividing 10 eggs amongst 6 people (here's your 1.66666666666666666666666666... eggs, sir!) Yeah, it's a lot easier to switch units in the metric system (just add a zero or move the decimal), but try telling that to the carpeter who has to measure out 0.33333333333333333333... meters.
Celsius versus Fahrenheit? Ohhh, Celsius is based on water, so that's much better than Fahrenheit, right? 0 is freezing and 100 (approximately) is boiling. Brilliant! However, this scale of measurement turns out to be pretty much irrelevant to actual humans, whose comfort levels are roughly between zero and 100 Fahrenheit. Ok, so freezing point of water (32 F or 0 C) is important when it comes to weather, but still, Fahrenheit's not completely retarded.
I think what it really comes down to is this: measurements are created for specific purposes. The people who created the English system had very specific reasons for doing so, and they're every bit as good as those of the metric system when it comes to their intended purpose. The metric system has it's own specific reasons for being, and it's far superior to the imperial system in those respects.
I think one of the primary reasons the imperial system is so annoying to some people is that it's inconsistent, and many people attribute lots of other measurement scales to it even when they're not offically part of it. These other measurement scales were built for the same reason - they were needed to serve a specific purpose. Liquid measurements seem particularly vulnerable to this. You've got the gallon, the old English wine gallon, the dry gallon (aka Winchester Gallon), the modern imperial gallon, etc... Hell, the US system differs significantly from the official imperial system. Liquids are difficult because they depend on so many environmental factors. This is perhaps why metric has cought on a little in the US when it comes to liquids (for a lot of drinks, though strangely not milk).
One other interesting thing I found in my (brief) research is that even people in countries with official metric standards use other forms of measurement when called for. In Japan, the construction industry still uses traditional Japanese measurements that predate the metric system. I'm willing to bet that no one goes to a pub to get 568.2 ml of beer (we call that a Pint dammit!).
Of course, using two primary forms of measurement causes all sorts of problems on it's own. The biggest example of this (for me, at least) is the loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter in the late 1990s. The root cause of that issue was that NASA engineers were using both imperial and metric systems for their measurements. Bah.
Ok, I've babbled enough. It seems to me that there are at least some reasons why the imperial system is worth keeping for some things, even while the metric system is far superior for some other things...
~[private]
added on 2:16pm Oct 15 '07:
Heh, forgot to include this:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2431521.ece
"The idea that you could not go for a pint in a pub in Britain is not acceptable."
Hehehe. Heh.