Great. Now all I need is a good theory on how the d came to abbreviate pound.
A folding rule is still called Zollstock, in German, and the unit of land measure (farmed land) is mostly counted in Morgen ("morning" = acre), btw.
Oh, for crying out loud! Such a beautiful metric system and you have to go and screw it up with acres.
People should not be required to learn.
We should use whatever we are currently using
and leave everything the way it is.
Rather than quote what Roger wrote about measuring equipement and all...
Rog, that's what I do for a living! Measure stuff! And since my company has amny different customers we have to work in both inches and millimeters at any given time.
Micrometers, drop indicators, calipers, CMM's, video measurement systems... they all have a button (hard or software) that says IN <-> MM
A thousandth of an inch (a thou') is 25.4 microns. A millimeter is about 40 thou. Got yer calculator handy?
S'anyway, these days we are about 1/3 inches, 2/3 millimeters. The only really hardcore oldstyle prints we see these days talk about Degrees-Minutes-Seconds...
roger wrote:Oh, for crying out loud! Such a beautiful metric system and you have to go and screw it up with acres.
Not really, roger, since everyone just calculates 4 acres in a hectar. (Which is totally incorrect, but since acres differed from [part of a] country to the other -and we had had some dozens of them here in Germany- it's very easy :wink: )
Well, that's it Walter. Once we are comfortable with a system, it makes perfect sense. In my mind, one city block is 5 acres. City blocks vary widely, but I'm quite comfortable with the term.
Vivien wrote:
8 14 3
something like this [/color]
Well, if math really was your wakest subject, Vivien, you were excellent in shopping: the result seems to be very correct :wink:
We shouldn't forget the
1 guinea = 21 shillings
1 crown = 5 shillings
1 florin = 2 shillings
The former English currency system, btw, was called
Libra-solidus-denarius system = Pound-shilling-penny system.
can we get the "ha'penny" back, please ? hbg
Except where I only learned to work in the imperial system the arithmetic is often easier in metric. I often use some of each and provide the equivalent if I can obtain it easily and hopefully correctly ie Sea level air pressure is 14.7 psia = pounds per square inch absolute = 6.68 Kg per square inch = 10,354 Kg per square meter (I hope) Now I know why I use the imperial system for pressure. Is a pascal = to a Kg per square meter? I wish they would quit honoring dead scientists! Neil
I lived inthe Philippines which uses the metric system but the imperial system or English Measure as we call it here is still is very much a part. Can you imagine how you are going to order wood which is 2" x 2" x 8'
How many countries are still using the American Standard? Three.
The USA of course, and two others. Who are they?
BTW: At an Oklahoma feed water heater plant the cowboys on the line had no trouble switching from American measurement (if the tank was shipping domestically) to Metric (if it was going overseas.) J
Hi Ricardo: 5 cm by 5 cm by 244 cm is likely close enough for most purposes. If the 2" by 2" was cut in the USA, it would typically be about 4.7 cm by 4.7 cm as the lumber yard typically cheats us by about 4 mm in width and thickness. Neil
Hi neil does this would mean that I will no longer pay by the board foot. Can you suggest a new measure based on metric?
Okay, Ricardo, you've just touched a sore point. Is a 2 x 4 in the Philippines really 2" x 4". In this country (USA) it is actually 1 3/4 x 3 3/4, or something like that, so whatever you order is only related to what you get in the sense of being smaller than what you pay for. The icing on the cake is that 1/2" plywood is no longer 1/2". But, lucky devils that we are, we can still cut a dado that the plywood will neatly fit into. All we have to do is buy a special plywood (undersize) router bit. Want to make any bets on whether that undersize bit is cheaper because it is smaller?
Sorry for the rant, and hey, thanks for listening.
You guys made me really feel like an old fart. I never learned the metric system, although I am somewhat familiar with it. The old Imperial system has served me well for my whole life, and I see no reason to change anything now.
I DO believe though, that metric IS a more sensible system, and that American schools need to teach kids both systems.
Several years ago some friends of mine were doing restoration on a pre-revolutionary era mansion. One of them went up to the attic to see if he could spot where a section of the roof was leaking. The others were engaged in removing a piece of paneling that had been put in sometime in the early twentieth century. Suddenly, there was shouting and yelling coming from the attic. "Get up here.!!" the guy was screaming. "You've got to see this!!"
Well, they all rushed up the attic ladder, all thinking that some kind of treasure had been found or an additional copy of the Declaration of Independence, something wondrous. "Don't move anything!" the project leader was heard to say. "Man, you've got to see this!" the guy replied, "I've never seen one."
And there it was. Actually, there were several hundred of them, it was a fairly large mansion. Kneeling on the floor, the shouting guy had his measuring tape out. "Look." he said, It's two inches by four inchs. It's a real two by four."
Apparently when they cut lumber in 1738 with their water-powered saws, they used honest English inches and perhaps that is why the house was still standing.
Joe
Yes Roger a 2 x 4 in the Philippines is exactly the same size as it is in America after all it was the Americans who brought that measurement here.
In all probability, Phoenix, you have not been using the imperial system all your life. The system is even more fouled up than has been indicated on the thread so far. The imperial (British) quart has 40 fluid ounces whereas the U.S. quart has 32. And then we have the long ton and the short ton--don't know where they fit in.
